Coming to terms
by thinktink2
Summary: Inspired by a photo on Spoilertv of our favorite Grimm and former hexenbiest looking rather cozy and flirtatious together in the next episode, despite the bomb that was dropped on us in 5.6. There's a surprising lack of dearth of Nick/Adalind fanfic and the idea wouldn't leave me alone.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Okay, I was disappointed that there was not a dearth of Nick and Adalind fanfics. Perhaps it's too soon? Perhaps I'm the only one genuinely excited to see them trying to make it as a (potential) couple. At any rate, this idea wouldn't leave me alone after seeing a spoiler pic from the next episode (5.7), so I ran with it. I'm projecting this story to be 3-5 chapters. Spoilers for season five, and especially episode 6 and on.

If you enjoy, please take a moment to comment. I'm just as guilty as any one for reading and enjoying on this site and not leaving feedback, but I know it means a lot to us authors when you do.

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He listened to the garage door rattle down the track from the driver's seat of his Land Cruiser, sealing with the pavement in a final deafening rattle.

 _Juliette was alive_.

Juliette was alive. He said it over and over in his mind but all the repetitions in the world could hardly convince him of the fact. Yet it was true, and deep down he knew there was no denying it. Juliette was alive, and apparently masquerading as her own version of the heroine in _Kickass_ , a thought that elicited a sort of deranged snort. She had hated that movie, or at least said she did, after they had seen it.

 _You're exhausted._ The thought managed to work its way through the burgeoning hysteria. Of course he was. Between the apparent Wesen uprising and a four-month old infant shattering whatever calm he could cobble together nightly he had barely slept more than three hours at a time in probably six months. Right when Juliette had revealed the truth about her nature. Right when his life went to shit. Juliette, his mom, the baby…Adalind.

He sighed again and opened his eyes. He really needed to get upstairs and see if she and Kelly were all right. He wondered now since Juliette's return if their lives were once again in danger from her. But their lives were in danger regardless. He was a Grimm, and she was a once former hexenbiest who had made a lot of enemies over the years, despite giving up her powers to try to save Juliette and claiming to being done with that life.

Now, instead, she was mother to his baby boy and a surprisingly good one, as well as his roommate, Grimm and hexenbiest, coexisting under one roof peaceably.

It was a wonder they worked, but in the strangest turn of events, they _did_ work.

It was still awkward as hell at times, but he found himself looking forward to seeing them at night, when he was exhausted and wrung out from work. Kelly, most nights, already asleep, but curled up in his crib seemingly without a care in the world while his two parents smiled down upon him.

And Adalind...

Adalind. He wasn't sure what to think about her and their…situation. She was forever a surprise, reconciling this newer, softer, motherly Adalind with the vicious, vindictive, hell-raiser he had known for years. But he was beginning to understand how some of his decisions had shaped her, and his perception of her. He had forced her into taking some of the steps she made, when he helped keep Diana away from her. He felt something akin to shame, the thought he could separate her child from her, when he had seen the way she looked at Kelly and cared for him. It was almost unconscionable but he had trusted his mother; knew that there was a greater good behind what they did, but that sort of reasoning barely seemed palatable now. Kelly. She had named their son after his mother, understanding and even perhaps grateful for what his mom had tried to do, the sacrifice. He felt something swell in his chest, for his mother, Adalind or the baby, or even Juliette he couldn't be sure. It had been a long night and promised to be an even longer one.

He still had to go upstairs and tell Adalind everything that had transpired. He didn't think the news would result in one of her more humorous moments of post-partum freak-outs.

%%%%%%%%

" _What?!_ "

"Juliette's alive. I don't know how, but…I know it was her."

"I thought you said she was dead. Trubel shot her."

"She was. I'm sure of it."

"But…how can she be alive then?"

"I don't know, but she is, and she saved my life."

"What?"

"She still has her powers, she's still a hexenbiest, but she saved me. Lifted a wesen hundreds of feet into the air. If she hadn't I wouldn't be here talking to you now," he finished, fishing a drink out of the fridge.

He turned back to find Adalind looking faintly horrified, and hurried to add, "I'm okay, don't worry about me," unsure why he felt the need to soothe her. _You don't need her hysterical. She'll wake the baby_ , he reasoned but took a step closer to her without even realizing it. She wrapped her arms around herself protectively and attempted a nonchalant once-over, but her eyes lingered too long as they swept over him, and he realized she was assessing for her own peace of mind that what he had told her was true.

"Really," he said softly, "I'm okay," and she met his eyes once again, a hint of guilt at being caught out in her expression.

"I'm glad," she replied, trying for neutral, but he thought he heard a note of watery relief. _Hormones_ his mind helpfully supplied, and he latched onto the explanation quickly without too much thought as to why.

"What about you and Kelly?" he asked, searching for some way to get them on more stable ground, away from the strangely charged emotion that kept surfacing between them now whenever they were alone. _She's the mother of your child_ , he reminded himself, _that's all_. _You have a right to be concerned with each other's welfare._ And in Adalind's case, with no powers, that was especially true. Without the ability to woge into a Hexenbiest to protect their child, she was essentially at the mercy of the world, and relied heavily on Nick to keep them safe.

"We're fine," she assured, and he felt a little bit of tension inside him unwind.

"Good."

They stood awkwardly for a moment, staring before Adalind ventured, "you want something to eat? I made some dinner earlier, I could heat it up again for you."

"Yeah, that sounds great," he agreed, grateful for the opportunity to slip into the role of polite roommates once again.

%%%%%%%%%%

"So Trubel knew?"

"I think so," he replied watching her take in the whole story.

"Wow." She said.

"I know."

"Wow."

"Yup."

"I mean…wow…that's just…" he watched her fumble for words.

"Do that for about six hours and you'll be where I am," he said wryly. She met his eyes over the table.

"Do you think we're safe from her here?"

He stared at her, weighing his response. "I don't know," he admitted.

She nodded, looking over at Kelly babbling quietly to himself while his parents ate. She reached out with a delicate finger and clutched a chubby foot before Kelly wiggled away.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you two, I promise."

"I know," she replied but the look of consternation didn't waver. Kelly screeched loudly, and both parents turned to look at him. He was interacting more, no longer a passive participant in his environment but a more active one, moving his head to follow his parents whenever they were near him, and beginning to express, what Adalind thought, she told him, might be his first smile. As usual when Nick's eyes lingered on his son for any length of time he reached for him, and Adalind took that as a sign their meal was over and stood up, clearing the plates.

"I can get that," he insisted, but Adalind was already halfway to the sink with their dishes and instead he watched her rinse them under the faucet bouncing Kelly lightly in his arms. He was rewarded with a happy sounding cry and Nick smiled despite the weighty air from their conversation still filling the room. He looked up when he realized after a while when there was no sound from the kitchen and locked eyes once again with Adalind, a peculiar expression on her face and air between charging once again with that strange energy that now crept between them more and more frequently.

"He missed you," she said, smiling at Kelly, who continued to gurgle happily in his father's arms. "We both did," she said after a long moment of gazing at their son, before flicking her eyes to and then away from Nick.

Nick swallowed thickly. Unsure if he should respond, but she hurried on before he could open his mouth.

"I'm beat," she said. "Will you put Kelly to bed?"

"Yeah," he said. "I'm going to wait up a bit for Truble," focusing his attention back on their son. "I'll come to bed in a little while," and then blanched when he realized how it sounded.

"Okay. Goodnight, Nick."

"Night."

"Night, Kelly," she cooed, bending her blond head down over her son to give him a kiss goodnight, and Nick was momentarily surrounded by thick golden locks before another quick, awkward smile from Adalind and an even quicker departure.

He watched her go, and then regarded his son again, the thought of whether Kelly would grow up to be blond like his mother, and sister Diana, he realized, or brunette like his name sake and his own father coming unbidden. It was a much better thought to focus on then whether he would grow to be a Hexengrimm or Grimmabiest, as Adalind had rambled, and beyond meeting Kelly's daily needs for food, love and survival, he realized how little he allowed himself to wonder about his son's future. Wondering about his son's future meant wondering about his own. About Adalind's. About a life together co-parenting their child and how that child might turn out.

%%%%%%

"Morning," Adalind said brightly around a yawn.

"Morning," Nick replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I didn't hear you last night. What time did you come to bed?" she asked, detouring to the carafe he pointed at and pouring herself a steaming cup. He was struck by how normal it all sounded. Domestic even. He was surprised he didn't really have an opinion on that one way or another.

"About 2:30," he said instead, watching her dreamily inhale the aroma. He smiled when she caught him watching her, a self-conscious, almost pleased smile surfacing in response. "That's the stuff," she said and took a seat next to him at the table.

She looked over to the single bed, unused since Nick had started staying in their room about a month ago and since Trubel apparently hadn't come home last night to sleep in it.

"She didn't come home?"

He shook his head. "Not yet."

She looked over to the crib where Kelly still snoozed comfortably, and raised her eyebrow. "He slept? All night?"

Nick smiled ruefully and shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. He woke sometime around 4:30."

"I slept through that?!" She replied, aghast, and Nick shook his head again. "Actually I thought he woke you before I could calm him, you sat up and mumbled something, but I told you I had it, and you went back to sleep. You don't remember that?"

She shook her head and said, "I was so tired." She took a sip of her coffee and glanced at him. "What about you? Did you get any sleep?"

"A little," he replied, hoping the lie would be enough.

"Liar. You look like hell, Nick." He barely refrained from rolling his eyes. "Well, a Wesen uprising and your dead hexenbiest from hell ex-girlfriend coming back from the grave will do that." He didn't mean for the statement to carry as much bite as it did, and felt bad when he saw her lips purse and her features school in that careful neutrality.

"Plus there's Kelly," she said.

"And you," he added, not sure why he did, but he tried to smile to show her he didn't resent either fact. "Besides you guys are rapidly becoming the reason I stay sane in this increasingly crazier world."

She managed a smile in return, locking eyes with him again, taking another sip of her coffee. "So," she started, affecting the brightness of earlier, "What's on the Wesen crime-fighting agenda today?"

"Finding out more about what Juliette and this underground organization are doing with each other."

"Juliette. Of course," and he thought he detected something in her tone.

"What?"

"Nothing. You think Trubel's avoiding you," she asked instead, looking again at the empty bed.

"I don't know. Maybe. I'm not sure Trubel knows either what Juliette is doing with them."

"What about you?" he asked, trying to deflect her from noticing his concern, but she had learned to read him quite well in their forced cohabitation, and he got the impression he wasn't really as successful as he had hoped. Still, she let the topic go, and he was grateful to put it aside for a moment.

"Oh, Kelly and I have a big day of crying and screaming, and burping and feeding, diaper changing, hair-pulling and sleeplessness ahead of us. You know, the usual."

"I'm jealous," he teased, and found he really was. What he wouldn't give for just a day to stay home and be a dad to his son.

Adalind gave him a look at the patronizing, and took another sip.

"I don't suppose you can go in late, sleep a little bit," she ventured. He shook his head before she even finished and she leaned back abruptly.

"I need to get a lead on this, I need to talk with Trubel, and Hank and Wu are researching some information on the money trail funding all this. This goes deep, much deeper than we realized according to Truble."

"What good is any of that going to do if you drop dead from exhaustion." She pointed out.

"I'll be fine," he replied dismissively. Adalind frowned.

"You need some rest," she insisted. "I'm not asking you to take a vacation or anything. But a few hours of sleep would do you wonders. And it would make me feel a lot better."

He quirked a brow.

"You know what I mean," Adalind retorted, a tad defensively, too.

He let it go. "You're right," and she sat up a little straighter and smiled, "I'm sure I would feel better. Unfortunately the Wesen uprising is not going to wait for me to catch up on some beauty rest."

"Just a couple of hours," she needled. "I'll take care of Kelly and you can get a little rest."

Nick rolled his eyes, "I really mean that much to you?"

"Nick," she said, as she leaned forward, into his personal space, so close he could feel the puffs of air against his lips and face as she whispered, faux conspiratorily, "I'm claiming it as my right as the mother of our child to worry about you, and that your well-being has a direct influence on our well-being, and to remind you repeatedly that you owe it to us to take better care of yourself."

He raised an eyebrow, refusing to back down, the challenge of her closeness igniting his heart to start pounding. He forced his eyes to stay locked on her, and not where they wanted to dart around to, her face, her lips-

"I owe it to you?" he managed to get out coolly, and he thought he saw a hint of a smile appear at the corner of her mouth, and quickly refocused on her eyes again.

"Yes, you owe it to me," she reiterated, "and Kelly," she added, leaning in further, "to take better care of yourself."

"I thought you said I didn't owe you anything," he reminded her mildly, suddenly very aware of their close proximity.

"I changed my mind."

"I see."

It would be so easy to close the distance and kiss her. The thought popped into his head without warning, taking him so much by surprise that he jerked reflexively away. Fortunately the elevator clanged loudly, announcing Trubel's arrival.

 _Kiss her. Where did that thought come from?_ He didn't want to kiss her...Did he? Adalind had moved away from him, watching the gate on the elevator go up and Trubel step out into their loft, apparently dismissing his startled behavior to her sudden arrival. He forced himself to look away, and greet Trubel, who was watching them both with a strange expression on her face.

"Hey," he managed to get out with a smile. "Where have you been?"

"Hey Nick," she returned, though her eyes were still on Adalind. He followed her gaze and couldn't tell anything amiss from the bright smile Adalind gave her, other than the fact Adalind gave her a bright smile. But she had really been trying these last few months, to make an effort to be conscientous and friendly and polite, and so that facet of her behavior shouldn't really be all that surprising at this point.

"Sorry to interrupt," Trubel offered, but it was more formality than anything as with the next breath she asked, "Is there any more coffee?" and took the seat opposite Adalind.

"I'll get you some," Adalind offered, and he watched her go, still confused about what had just happened.

"Where have you been?" He repeated, turning his attention back to Trubel and away from his unsettled feelings.

"I'll get to that in a minute. Meisner wants to meet with you."

"Meisner?" Adalind interrupted, setting a cup of steaming black liquid in front of Trubel. She gave Adalind a guarded look and muttered a perfunctory thanks.

"Yeah, Meisner." She looked around at the table. "Is there anything to eat?" and once again Adalind popped off her seat next to him and hurried to the kitchenette. "I could make you something," she offered. "Nick?"

"No thanks," he responded automatically his attention now entirely focused on Trubel. "What's going on?"

"There's some muffins," Adalind called out, and held one up. "I need to get some groceries," she added, more to herself.

"What kind?" Trubel responded, doing her best now to ignore Nick instead of Adalind.

"Uhh...blueberry?"

"It'll suffice," Trubel replied, and Adalind set it in front of her and stepped back, hands on hips, looking between Nick and Trubel.

"Well, I'm sure you have a lot to talk about," Adalind said. "I'm going to check on Kelly and then I'm going to run a few errands."

"Be careful," Nick warned automatically, returning his eyes to her face. She looked at them both before replying. "You too. And our conversation from this morning isn't over," she added over her shoulder as she gracefully excused herself from the room.

Nick felt his stomach twist. _Anticipation? Excitement? Fatigue?_ You don't want to kiss her, he told himself sternly. _Your emotions are all over the place because of everything that's happened, and now seeing Juliette again..._

It certainly sounded plausible.

He just didn't know if it sounded true, even to himself.

"What conversation?" Trubel ventured after a long look.

He gave himself a mental shake. "Nevermind. Tell me everything

Reviews are like water. I'm dying of thirst for them.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Oh, fine. You twisted my arm. Here's the next chapter.

In all seriousness, Wow, thank you for all the kind words! Made me so happy, and happy too, to know that I'm not the only one shipping Nadalind. Here's the next part. Two more are already written. Hope you enjoy and if you do, please take a moment to comment. The pic that inspired the fic is now displayed beside the story title. I hope it doesn't ruin anyone's lives by seeing it before the episode airs.

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"Nick! Nick! Oh, my god! Thank god I reached you!"

"Adalind?" he replied in alarm, but of course it was Adalind. He had recognized her voice instantly, audio confirming the number that had displayed on his screen was her. "What's wrong?!" He grabbed his coat from the back of his desk chair and started making his way to the door, Hank and Wu looking up in concern. He dimly registered Hank starting to follow, and Nick punched the elevator button impatiently debating whether to take the stairs, but he was rewarded with the ding of arrival and he quickly hopped on. "Where are you?"

"Oh my gosh! He's doing it again!"

"What? Who? Adalind?!" Nick bit out, whirling around in his tight confines as though he might see it.

"Oh what a good little boy! Yes, yes! That's my little Kell-bell."

 _What?_

 _"_ Adalind," he began slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Are you all right?" But he was beginning to suspect she, and _Kell-bell_ , were fine. He lolled his head back in resignation, taking a moment to register there was gum on the elevator ceiling, before pushing his way through the throngs when the doors opened and walking outside. He got the impression this was going to be an outside conversation.

"Nick! Nick! You won't believe it. He smiled at me! _He smiled at me_. He's smiling now!" She cried out, in a shrieking high voice he would not have believed her capable of. "Maybe that's because I'm jumping up and down, though, like a crazy person," she said after a moment's pause to catch her breath, and Nick looked down at his shoes and counted to ten.

"So you're okay. Kelly's okay. Everything's okay?" He said with as much patience as he could muster.

"Oh." And it was clear from the moment that followed that she may have registered how her phone call initially came off.

"Oh," she said again and he closed his eyes, a smile threatening to surface despite himself. "Oh, yeah, Nick, Kelly's fine. Everything's fine."

"You're sure?" he asked pointedly, realizing Hank had now joined him and was giving him a questioning look, and Nick shook his head. Hank sighed in relief, and Nick waved him on. Hank nodded and went back inside.

"Yeah, sorry. We're you worried?"

"Yes," he ground out, "I was worried."

"Oh. Oh Nick. I'm so sorry. Sorry, I got a little excited," she explained unnecessarily and Nick nodded his head impatiently before remembering she couldn't see it.

"You don't say," he said instead.

"Smiling, Nick! He's smiling now! I told you he was going to smile one day soon and he did. Oh, you should have seen it."

"Next time take a picture, and maybe I can," he said. _And send it in a text instead of calling me up at work yelling my name and making me have a heart attack_.

"Oh! A picture! Oh, my god, Nick! I didn't even think of that! I was so excited I just had to call and tell you. I wish you could see it yourself, but he's not smiling anymore now."

"Maybe he had gas," he offered unhelpfully, and smiled to himself when he heard Adalind bristle. "No," she said firmly, "he was smiling at me," the last part was cooed and no doubt meant for Kelly's ears and not Nick's.

"Anyway, I thought you might want to know," she offered briskly. He rushed to assure, once again a portion of his mind wondering why he was always trying to keep her happy lately.

"No, I did. I do. Just, next time..."

"Right, don't freak you out at first."

"Right." He smiled, and a moment of silence passed between them on the phone, as though neither wanted to end the call.

"Kell-bell?" he eventually asked, smirking.

"What?" she replied annoyed, and he could just picture her tilting her head defiantly, eyebrows narrowed and blond locks flung over her shoulder.

"Nothing."

"Mm-hmm," she intoned disbelievingly. He was struck with a pang of emotion; loneliness, regret, but for a second he just missed her. Them. Or Maybe the reappearance of Juliette just reminded him of the banter they sometimes had. Maybe that was it. He missed what was, not necessarily Adalind and her sass and beautiful blond hair.

"Just, Kell-bell? Really?" he teased, although secretly he found it kind of endearing.

"You have a better one?"

"No," he replied.

"Really? So we're just going to pretend that that little hexenbaby nickname was for me and not Kelly?"

Nick felt his cheeks warm.

"No, we're going to pretend you didn't hear anything, because _you didn't hear anything."_

 _"_ Sure," she agreed, and he could hear her smiling. He grinned too, and rocked back on his heels, waiting anxiously for her next volley.

"Well I feel bad, now. I have nothing for you. Nick-knack? Grimsome?" she tried.

"Grimsome?" he replied. "What the hell is Grimsome?"

"You know, like, Grimm and handsome put together, er, I mean-" and suddenly Adalind was stumbling over her words, the fact that something had slipped out she rather not have all to ready to be scooped up and taunted before her.

"Oh, I thought you might have meant Gruesome. So, you think I'm handsome, huh?" and this phone call had so completely deviated from its original purpose that it was a wonder neither of them hung up on the other in their respective haste to backtrack.

"No!"

"You do," he continued, wondering why he kept poking this particular bear, or (former) hexenbiest as it were, but as long as he had the upper hand he was going to push it for all it was worth.

"Gruesome! Yes, why didn't I think of that," she insisted as an aside. "Nick! You're twisting my words."

"I don't think so," he replied with a touch of glee, but fortunately Adalind interrupted him before he dug himself in any deeper.

"This conversation has gotten so out of hand," she muttered, and he couldn't agree more, glad one of them was at least putting the brakes on it.

"You called me," he couldn't resist pointing out.

She sighed loudly into the phone, unimpressed.

"I'm going to let you go," she announced with a stab at dignity. "I just wanted to let you know your son had his first smile today," and he sobered immediately.

"That's great," he said seriously. "I'm sorry I missed it," he added wistfully. It seemed like he was missing a lot of things.

"He'll do it again, Nick," Adalind reassured, and he nodded again. "I know. I know," he repeated, and he wasn't sure then if he wasn't trying to convince himself. "I just wish I was there with you. To see it." More silence filled the line as Adalind, having announced her intention now seemed reluctant to follow through with it.

"I'm glad you called me," Nick found himself saying. "You can call me any time, you know that."

"I know," Adalind replied softly.

"Even if it's because you can't go another moment without hearing my _Grimsome_ voice."

Adalind signed resignedly. "Nick." He grinned again, and then noticed Hank stepping outside, indicating they needed to head to the car. Nick nodded and turned back to his phone conversation.

"Gotta go. Later, Hexenbaby."

%%%%%%%

It was late when he arrived home, Kelly already sound asleep in his crib, and Adalind slumped over the dining table herself.

"Adalind," he whispered, noting that once again the single bed against the wall was devoid of Trubel's body.

"I'm awake," she replied, readily enough that he believed her.

"Where's Trubel?"

"Out."

"I can see that. Do you know where?"

"She went for a walk. Said she had to get out for a while."

"Oh, okay," Nick replied, concern and confusion warring on his (Grimsome) face.

"I think I was starting to drive her a little crazy," Adalind confessed after a moment, flipping her head up and watching him go through his nightly ritual of divesting himself of coat, shoes, badge and wallet.

"Why is that?" he obliged the question, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer. It was late, and he had long since learned that Adalind, while at times sweet and amusing, had a tendency to slink into a manic ramble when explaining something.

"I was trying to get Kelly to smile again, you know, get a picture like you said. I wanted to see if I could capture it and send it to you, but then he wouldn't do it, and I guess I got a little obsessed and crazy and finally Kelly got fussy and Trubel said she had had enough and left for her walk."

"How long ago was that?"

"About two hours ago."

"How long has Kelly been down?"

"About an hour and a half."

"You eaten anything?"

"Yeah, Trubel brought home a pizza earlier."

"Any left?"

"Fridge," she replied pointing to it.

Nick uttered a silent prayer of thanks and dug into it.

"Hungry?" Adalind said, amused.

"Starving. I haven't eaten all day. Hank and I have been working a double homicide since mid-morning."

"Is it connected to the uprising?"

Nick shook his head, biting into a huge chunk of the pizza slice he was holding. "Doesn't appear to be," he said when he could speak again.

"Well, that's good, I suppose, right?"

Nick shrugged. "It's a distraction from our real focus on this underground, Wesen, uprising thing."

"I didn't mean to interrupt your investigation earlier."

Nick shook his head, taking another bite. "You didn't. Hearing your voice was a welcome relief. We were getting nowhere on either investigation. It was nice to not have to think about any of it for a few minutes," he offered, recollecting their phone call and what could politely, in some quarters, be called some shameless flirting going on between them. And those quarters would house Rosalee, Monroe, Hank, and Wu and everybody else he probably knew.

It was happening more and more, and more and more he found himself not shying away from it. Party to it, as a matter of fact more often than not. Ever since the thought of kissing her had popped into his brain he found himself obsessed by it. And the more he thought about it, or tried _not_ to think about it, the more inured to it he became.

Adalind smiled shyly, and looked down, picking at a piece of string on her clothing. "Glad I could help," she said, risking a glance at Nick and then freezing it on his face and he stared back. The weird charge in the air—the _attraction_ —between them jumped to life.

Nick took another bite and continued to stare at her. Attraction. Yes, that's all it was. He was attracted to Adalind. Why not? He was a young, virile, heterosexual male, and she was a beautiful, smart, sassy, complicated blonde female.

And it was only to be expected that he would find himself attracted to her. After all it had been months since he had had any sort of meaningful contact with someone of the opposite sex, and here they both were, isolated from society holed up together in one of Portland's crappiest warehouses. If nothing else, what they might both be feeling could charitably compare to some version of Stockholm syndrome or the Nightengale effect.

They couldn't trust anyone else, so they only had each other. And it was manifesting itself more insistently each day.

He looked closer at her choice of sleep garment. "Isn't that my shirt?" he asked after a moment to swallow.

Adalind looked down as though seeing it for the first time. "Oh, yeah, I guess. You gave it to me, remember?"

"Yeah. A month ago."

"You want it back?" And Nick wondered for a moment that if he said yes and demanded it back that she would give it right then and there.

He knew what was under there. He could vaguely remember exploring everything her body—Juliette's body—had offered. The reminder of Juliette panged painfully but he kept his attention firmly on the blonde beauty before him and not the past.

"No," he said after a pause where he debated making Adalind squirm a little. "Keep it. It looks good on you."

"Thanks," Adalind replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear self-consciously.

"No matter how _Grimsome_ I might be, I just don't think I pull it off," he couldn't resist, and she huffed a surprised laugh and glared at him.

"Oh, god," she moaned in resignation. "Will you stop? And you? Hexenbaby?"

Nick grinned unrepentantly.

"Look, can we just both agree to never mention any part of that conversation ever again?" Nick nodded and then changed his mind. "No, I don't think so," he said, shaking his head.

"Ugh! Nick!"

"What?"

"It's awful."

"I don't know. It suits you I think. Just like I'm Grimsome." Adalind rolled her eyes impatiently.

"You know, over the past few months we've really done a great job of getting along fairly well, and I would really hate to shatter the peace by killing you. Nick," she ground out with a glare.

Nick finished his pizza slice and chased it down with a swig from his water bottle.

"Kill me with what? Your pouty stare?" And Adalind's brow furrowed in indignation. "Unless you plan on coming at me wearing one of Kelly's spit up concoctions I'm not afraid of you."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. She picked up the nearest weapon to her. It was one of Kelly's pacifiers. Nevertheless, she maneuvered it over a finger and onto her palm.

"You will be," she threatened.

"Bring it if you think you've got it… _hexenbaby_." The thunderous look flattened and she was up off the chair swatting at Nick before he could scoot back out of reach. He started laughing, the absurdity of being pummeled by a five foot three blonde trying to wield a pacifier in a deadly capacity—or in serious capacity—reducing him to a quivering mass…of laughter.

"Stop it!" Adalind shouted, but even she started to laugh. "It's not funny," she insisted. "We both know I could kill you if I wanted to…if I had my powers back." And Nick sobered enough to find her standing above him, one arm holding the limb with the pacifier still, and the other braced against her waist. He realized from the pressure against his shoulder that Adalind was using her other hand to keep herself from falling basically into his lap, and the shudder of anticipation shot through him again, as he contemplated a kiss from her. He realized both their breathing was heavy, and he didn't think they labored from their brief struggle of dominance.

He didn't love her, he told himself. But he didn't hate her either. And it might be more than fair to say that he genuinely was starting to like her and care for her. He understood her better. They had more in common than just their son. They shared similar backgrounds—on their own from an early age; absentee parents, tenacity and a knack for surviving.

He had loved Juliette. And this didn't feel like that. Whatever _this_ was it was quieter; more muted and subtle. He certainly cared for her; cared what happened to her. She was the mother of his child and that made their situation however difficult more sentimental. His feelings for her more sentimental. And sure he was lonely, and tired, and utterly isolated at times in the scope and space of the task before him: fatherhood, saving the world, fighting Wesen. And he knew she was too. Had to be. She was isolated from everything that she had always known and was familiar to her; no longer in possession of her powers, and forced to cohabitate and live with people that she once hated, and that hated her in order to survive. But she had always been a survivor and he realized with a start he sort of admired that about her.

So ultimately they were two lonely people trying to make it together, and make what was ultimately a demented sort of one-night stand work as a functioning parenting situation for the next eighteen years or so.

Was it so wrong to seek a little comfort in each other, he wondered? Plenty of people had done it before, but he knew that line of thinking was dangerous. Things were already complicated enough between them without adding acting on any measure of attraction between them. Had he first met her under any other circumstances she might even have been the type that he would have hit on. Accepted bar bets from all his friends to chat her up, get her number. But they never met under those circumstances and had never even come close.

"Nick," she breathed still locked onto him.

"Yeah?"

"You better let me go," she whispered, but she neither insisted by trying to move away, nor did he oblige by releasing her. Instead, the hand that had been bracing her hip now found its way trailing down the side of her face. Adalind stared back wordlessly, but she didn't appear to be afraid by what might be happening between them right now.

The attraction was dangerous, he decided. They were always careful to maintain their respective sides on the bed, the loft, their life together.

Except, of course, on those occasions where they didn't. When he awoke with a start and nose full of blond hair he had snuggled up against. Or when he felt his arm tingling under the weight of her head pressed against it. When she borrowed and wore his clothes around him and when everything they did somehow inserted itself into the other's world no matter how thickly they tried to draw the lines.

So they were stuck with each other, he decided. They'd just have to make it work. As friends. Probably without benefits, but that thought barely registered as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

Her eyes fluttered closed right before he made contact and then he lost himself for a few moments, his hand now sliding around to the back of her neck to hold her head against him.

He _had_ kissed her before, technically. Once, when he had stolen her powers as hexenbiest, and twice, he supposed, when he had thought her Juliette, and then thought Juliette to be her, but this kiss now, awakened something in him he long since thought dead or dormant. It was softer and more tentative than any of those and he half expected her to jerk away but she remained firmly locked in the embrace with him.

And that scared the hell out of him. He broke away after a moment, still breathing heavily, and watched Adalind open her eyes and regard him carefully. He realized he was still grasping her pacifier armed hand and he let go abruptly. The other hand, clutching a handful of soft wavy hair, also released her, and she stood back and both tried to understand what the hell had just happened.

"I, uh—"

"That was—"

"Adalind I didn't mean to—" what? Fall on her lips? Well, he guessed technically he had impaled her on his lips, and when one said it like that, then one had a hard time convincing oneself of that statement.

"Uh, wow. Um, okay. That was…weird," she settled on, still a little breathlessly.

 _Weird bad, or Weird good?_ And he couldn't believe his subconscious had just asked that question. _Weird_ was an understatement.

 _Weird_ was the title of the three volume novel that attempted to explain their entire relationship. _Weird_ was a little disappointing.

"Um…okay…not sure what just happened here, but I think it's time for bed, sooo…" And Adalind made a gesture to indicate she was heading that way, before turning back to him suddenly. "You are coming, too, right? I mean, I still feel better when I know you're lying beside me, and you still need to get some rest too," she added quickly when he started to open his mouth. He clamped it shut again.

"Sure," he managed and she nodded once, satisfied, and then hurried off to her side. She was under the covers and facing away from him before he even reached the double doors. He slowly took off his shirt and pants, laid his gun on the night table beside him, and then pulled back the covers and slid in.

 _Her side._ They had sides even in that. Everything was shared space and shared memories. Why couldn't they share this? He looked over at her, the outline of her back and shoulders barely visible in the light in the apartment. Was it so wise to be sharing this bed now, after sharing that kiss just a moment ago?

"Night," she offered, as though she knew he was staring at her.

"Goodnight, Adalind," he said, and turned to stare at the ceiling for the next couple of hours.

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Please give me some feedback so I know you're still interested!


	3. Chapter 3

AN: remember how I said this was only going to be 3-5 chapters? Well, I've just completed chapter seven with no end in sight. Don't hold it against me.

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He fell asleep shortly after he heard Trubel get home, which, he calculated, was probably about 30 minutes after they both went to bed. He had debated on getting up to talk with her, but in the end exhaustion and the emotional turmoil won out. He awoke at some time around three when Kelly woke up, but after registering no threats, he had rolled over with a sleepy, if apologetic, smile and returned to the land of dreams, leaving Adalind to it.

The next time he awoke, it was well after six and the bed was empty beside him. He sat up and looked to Kelly's crib, where his son still slept peacefully. Scrubbing his hand over his face, he managed to get up and going, stumbling rather drunkenly to the door with his clothes and gun, before slipping through it, past the common areas of the loft, and into the shower, noting Trubel's bed was empty as well. When he emerged from the bathroom, Adalind and Trubel were both in the room, whispering heatedly before breaking off suddenly at his appearance. Adalind smiled, Trubel schooled her features carefully, and Nick gave them both a strange look while debating whether he wanted to know.

"Morning," he chose, noting that the women moved to opposite sides of the room. Trubel nodded in reply and took a seat at the table, while Adalind moved over by the stove where it smelled like breakfast was cooking.

"Sleep well?" Trubel asked with a bit of bite to it. Nick wasn't sure what she might be referring to, but her tone indicated there was more to the question than what was on the surface.

"Yeah, as well as can be expected," he admitted, surprised that despite any obvious hindrances, he _had_ slept rather soundly. Hopefully the admittance would get Adalind off his back about catching up on sleep. He glanced up at her when she placed a plate of food in front of him with a tight, cheery smile, and his heart lurched as he recalled the events of last night.

They had kissed. _Kissed._ What the hell had he been thinking? He supposed it was true they had always had some inexplicable attraction, even when they were trying to kill each other, but seriously. What had he been thinking?

He didn't know what he had been thinking, but if it was anything along the lines of what he was thinking now it wasn't going to help him maintain his distance. She was already dressed for the day, the shirt of his he recalled her wearing last night nowhere in sight. The grey pants and grey sweater made her features seem more soft and delicate than he knew her to be. Her hair soft and straightened from their usual wavy curls. He could recall running his fingers through it last night, holding her head to his mouth—

 _Stop._ _Just stop_. He told himself. _You can't do this right now._ Or probably ever again. But that was exactly what his heart was fixating on doing. Finding a moment alone to kiss her again. It felt good, to know that his heart was still alive, even after all that Juliette had done to break it. It felt good to give in to the attraction that hummed between them all day. It felt good to give them a sort of release from all the tiptoeing they did around each other. It had felt good, period.

"I've got to meet Meisner at 8," he announced, needing to get his mind on a new topic.

"I'm supposed to go with you," Trubel said, forking a pile of eggs into her mouth.

"Good," Nick said, "We still need to talk about the other night."

"Not much to say," Trubel replied, and Adalind joined the conversation by taking a seat to his left.

"What happened the other night?" she asked, taking a more refined bite of her eggs than Trubel had.

"Nothing," Trubel replied as Nick said, "Juliette showed up again at another Wesen uprising."

Adalind raised perfectly sculpted eyebrows in surprise and looked between them. "Wow," she said, after swallowing. "So she _is_ working for the secret government organization, then?"

"Looks like," Nick replied, deciding it was better to focus on food than her face.

"Wow." She said again, and silence fell over the table for a few moments. Nick ate methodically, the topics of Adalind and Juliette and the resistance warring over his mind equally. He dimly registered Kelly babbling quietly from his baby bucket a few feet away, and smiled when he looked over at him to find Kelly looking back at him. Adalind followed his gaze and smiled, too, and said, "he's been in good humor since he got up this morning."

"Hopefully he'll remain that way, give you a bit of a break."

"He's always good," she replied confidently. "Even when he's pulling out my hair or refusing to take his nap."

"I'm going to take a shower," Trubel announced suddenly, and was halfway to the bathroom by the time Nick registered she had moved away from the table.

"Something going on?" Nick asked in confusion, and Adalind shrugged. He narrowed his eyes, but she continued to ignore him. He gave up the topic, deciding he didn't need to get into it before work. They continued to eat in silence before Adalind said, "So are we going to talk about what happened last night?"

Nick heard the shower start and thought they might then have ten minutes to address what had happened. Unfortunately, he was going to need about twenty minutes before he was able to put words to it.

"You kissed me," Adalind said, when Nick offered nothing. "Does it…does that mean something? I mean, you have to had felt it right? Every time we're alone together there's like this weird…energy between us, and I thought it might be, like you, maybe, missing Juliette, or you like some sort of weird dad hormones that make me more attractive to you or something, because guys have that like, too, or if you're just lonely, and we're stuck in this place away from everybody hours a day, like Stockholm syndrome or something, because believe me, I've been through all those scenarios myself, but it doesn't seem like they really explain it though, do they, because there is, isn't there? There's like this weird attraction between us. Right? You've felt it, too?"

Adalind paused for breath, looking anxiously at him for a moment, and Nick thought, _There it is, an excuse._ _Plausible deniability._ _Hormones, our situation, even she's aware of it._ It would be so easy to grasp one of those lies, and tell her he felt anything but what he did. He opened his mouth to do just that, but "Yeah, I've felt it," was what came out instead. Adalind looked relieved at the admission and Nick slid his plate to the side and reached for his coffee.

"What does it mean?" She asked.

Nick shrugged, unsure how to respond.

"I mean, are we going to be okay?"

Again, he fumbled for words in his head, trying to put a voice to what he was feeling or thinking, but he was floundering just as much as Adalind.

"I don't know. I don't know what it means. I guess it means I'm attracted to you, and you're attracted to me. And I don't know if it's hormones, or living together, or what, but it definitely means our lives are complicated."

Adalind snorted.

"More complicated," he corrected.

"Did you mean it?" She asked after a long moment, and Nick looked at her in confusion. "When you kissed me," she clarified. "Did you mean to kiss me?"

"I'm not sure you could call it an accident," he offered after a bit, staring into his coffee. She rolled her eyes, and leaned forward, once again inviting herself into his personal space. He didn't move away, just looked at her as she looked at him, eyes roving over his face, and he realized the admission allowed him to do the same, freely, without having to remind himself to avert his eyes, so he did. For a few long moments they just allowed each other the moment to look, the air charging between them.

Adalind dipped her head a little lower and inched closer. "Do you mean to do it again?" she asked, eyes flickering to his lips, and Nick found he had responded in kind, tilting his head down and slipping a little in his seat.

"I don't know," he uttered, looking at her, her lips, her. "Maybe," he admitted, and he saw Adalind start to smile.

"Good." She said, and Nick felt his lips curl and his heart stop as well. "So what's keeping you?"

Something banged loudly from the corner of the room, the shower door, Nick realized, and they both turned to look at the door leading to the bathroom. They heard Trubel moving around noisily and Nick leaned back a little with an apologetic smile as Adalind did the same with a roll of her eyes and sheepish grin of her own. The door to the bathroom opened a moment later, and Trubel stepped into the room and stopped short on her way to her bed, taking in the scene before her. Nick glanced at Adalind and realized that despite both moving back from the other, they still looked like they were in some sort of intimate conversation. She looked from Nick to Adalind, before returning her eyes to Nick again. She raised a finger to point between the two, and Nick felt his heart start hammering, unsure if he wanted to answer any questions about what had been going on between the two while Trubel had been out of the room.

"Either of you need to use the bathroom?"

Both shook their heads, Adalind hiding a smile behind the coffee mug she raised to her lips, and Trubel nodded, finger lowering slowly to her side. "I just need to grab my toothbrush and fix my hair. Five minutes."

Nick nodded. "Should be ready to go by then," and breathed a sigh of relief when she left the room.

He looked at Adalind again, who just shook her head still smiling, and he felt the vise on his heart release and a kind of buoyancy fill it instead. He stood up, grabbed his badge, wallet, and car keys, and followed Adalind with his eyes as she began collecting dishes to take to the sink, replacing items back in the cupboards and fridge. She paused when he didn't move out of her way to open the door to it, glancing up at Nick who felt he owed her an explanation of some sort.

"Sorry," was all he came up with it. Adalind smiled.

"It's okay," and he moved away to say goodbye to Kelly.

Two minutes later he was out the door with Trubel, slowly focusing his mind away from his complicated feelings about Adalind.

%%%%%%%%

"So what's going on with you and Adalind?"

Nick managed to maintain a tight control on the wheel and a nonchalant reply. "What do you mean? Nothing's going on," he said, and perhaps, in some alternate universe that statement was true.

"Really?" Trubel replied doubtfully.

"Yes," he said shortly. "Really," hoping that she would drop it and they could discuss the topic at hand: Meisner and their upcoming meeting with him.

"Because it really doesn't seem like nothing," she continued, looking out the window, and Nick ground his teeth together and didn't reply.

"I asked Adalind," Trubel said, and Nick felt a jolt go through him. So that's what they were whispering about this morning? "But she tried to deny it too, but she's not as good as lying about it as you are. And then this morning—"

 _Wait._ _And then this morning?_ "Wait—when did you ask her this?"

Truble turned back to him. "A few weeks ago. But then this morning," she continued, and Nick momentarily drowned her out as his mind tried to follow its own track. So she had noticed something a few weeks ago, and apparently asked Adalind about it? And Adalind had denied it.

"—there was something going on," Trubel finished looking at Nick expectantly, and Nick realized he had missed most of what she was saying.

Regardless "Look, nothing is going on. Adalind's fine, we're fine, we need to focus on what's at hand. Not what you think may or may not be going on in my personal life."

Trubel looked at him silently for a moment, and then said, "Look, it's no big deal. I get it, Juliette, the baby, you're living together…" and Nick clenched his jaw, "but I'm just…I'm worried about you, okay. You're not in a good place right now, and this…this seems kind of sudden. And not like you."

Nick tried to keep a firm hold on his temper, but this conversation was rapidly eroding the tenuous control on it. _Sudden?_ Was it sudden? It had been almost six months—over six months, he realized, since Adalind had dropped the bomb that he had fathered a child with her. Since they had been thrown together in order to protect his baby from harm from a vengeful Juliette. Over six months since Juliette had become a hexenbiest, and laid waste to everything he had loved and valued. Four months since Juliette had died, and nearly a month since he had discovered she was back, a cold, emotionless, no-nonsense relic of what she once was.

Six months he had been floundering, trying to find his footing, rebuild some of his life, create a safe haven for his son to grow and thrive in. A return to some measure of normalcy, and something to keep his mind off of the ever-widening chasm of turmoil that his life had undertaken. Juliette, Kelly, his mom, Adalind, being a Grimm. He needed something to anchor onto, to keep from being pulled under by the torrent of confusion, and adrenaline, and emotion that dogged his every footstep.

And right now, Adalind represented that. Despite him being a Grimm, and her being a Hexenbiest with suppressed powers, their relationship was the most normal thing in his life now. She represented a life away from that; she brought levity and relief to his mind, despite the constant worry over whether he could keep them safe enough. He looked forward to seeing her, teasing her, sharing a smile with her over Kelly, or listening to her excited chatter when she shared some achievement their son had made.

He enjoyed her presence, glad to have someone to share coffee or a meal with, even if that meal was tendered in awkward silence or stilted conversation, though they had settled rather comfortably into a routine a while ago.

All that he had had with Juliette, and all that she had ripped away, along with everything else, and now he was being asked to explain why he was trying to cobble something meaningful together again.

He knew Trubel meant well, knew that she didn't like to get involved in personal matters and some part of him was surprised she actually brought the topic up to him. But "not in a good place right now." He couldn't help the snort that escaped as he wondered if he would ever be in a good place ever again. What was a good place anymore?

"Look," he said, still trying to rein in his temper, "I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine, and anything going on between Adalind and I is none of your business," he said coldly, locking eyes with Trubel. She swallowed and nodded, turning away to look out the side window.

"Okay," she said, and he nodded too.

"But there is something going on." She stated, and he sighed and stared straight ahead as he drove. The rest of the ride was conducted in silence.

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AN (again. chatty, aren't I?) Not sure if this came off as well as I was intending. This went a much darker way originally, and I scrapped most of that, and tried to lighten it up a bit, as I didn't feel like it fit much with the overall tone of the story, but it feels a little uneven to me, so bear with me. I ran into that issue a few more times as we move forward in the story, but I leave it up to you to let me know if those instances came off okay.

As always, I live for comments.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: There were a couple of comments (thank you, I love the feedback. Please keep them coming) about Trubel and her feelings as to the Nick/Adalind relationship in the last chapter that I did want to address. I feel like Nick definitely views Trubel like a little sister (i.e. no romantic interest), but when he rescued her this season in the hospital I got just a small vibe that she might have something like a crush on him, or maybe has stronger feelings. Could be just me. At any rate, I do feel she's very perceptive and protective of Nick and would want to know what, exactly, Adalind's intentions are regarding Nick. And to the other comment about how Trubel noticed their behavior around each other...yup, sometimes you're not as nonchalant as you think you come off. I think their feelings stay unnoticed longer to more people because they're not really together around other people, especially ones they know. This season they haven't really been shown together in a setting outside their loft. At home they might not be as careful with their feelings as they are out in public, and maybe forget where they are and who's with them. Or maybe they just can't hide it any longer.

Anyway, because you all were good, I've decided to post the next chapter (I was going to be mean and wait another day or two).

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It was a nice day in Portland, and Adalind had convinced him to leave the warehouse and accompany her on some errands. He pushed the stroller in front of him, while Adalind chattered on inanely about redecorating their loft into something less "dungeon-y" and he listened patiently before issuing a flat "No" at the end.

"Why?"

"It's too risky, and you know it. We can't risk anyone else knowing where it is and buying a bunch a stuff and having it delivered would do that."

"We could take it up ourselves," Adalind said. "And anyone else besides Trubel. And Meisner, you mean?"

Meisner was a sore subject between them. Ever since he had discovered Meisner's involvement in Juliette's resurrection, his opinion of him was far more conflicted than that of Adalind's who seemed to regard him as a kind of savior, and looked upon him the same adoring eyes to match. The same eyes she sometimes cast upon Nick, he noted sourly, and shoved down the realization he might be jealous to the far reaches of his mind.

"Your attempts to spruce it up are going to have to be limited by what you can carry yourself," he replied, not giving into the temptation to make an off the cuff remark.

She pouted prettily, and Nick faced ahead, not willing to be suckered a second time in one day by that look.

"What else do you have on your list," he asked, slowing to a stop to look over her shoulder at a bullet-pointed list she carried. Three of what appeared to be…12 items had been crossed off already, and Nick rolled his eyes heavenward, that they were already two hours into it, and just barely 25% of the way done.

"This is going to take all day," he complained, and Adalind grinned cheekily. "Not if you stop arguing with me," she replied.

His eyes narrowed. Kelly began fuss, and he rolled the stroller back and forth between them. "Bed linens-non-ugly" he quoted, reading a couple of things off of it. "Sofa?! Well, you can mark that one off your list because there's no way it'll fit in the car, and I'm not helping you haul it upstairs. And we have bed linens."

"Not pretty ones."

"They work."

"They're scratchy," Adalind replied stubbornly. "And ugly. I'm afraid it's damaging Kelly's eyes having to look at them."

Nick pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why did I agree to this?"

"Because you were worried about our safety and you didn't want to miss a chance to share a nice day with your son."

"No, because you suckered me into it with a lot of pouty lips and…and…soulful eyes," he retorted, irritated. He scowled when he saw her bite down a smile.

"Well," she patted his arm, then hooked hers around it and tugged him on. "I think maybe it's important that we don't cast blame," and Nick snorted, but allowed himself to be led on, Kelly quieting as the stroller began moving steadily again. She kept her arm around his, and they managed to walk in companionable silence, looking to all the world like a family enjoying an outing. Nick kept his eyes on his surroundings, looking for threats, while Adalind glanced at the store fronts.

"I mean, look at this as an opportunity," Adalind began. "When else do you have such a nice day off to spend your son?"

"I'm spending it with his mom, shopping, and he's spending it sleeping."

"See, Kelly knows how to relax, don't you kell-bell?"

"I'm hardly relaxed."

"I know." She gave Nick a look.

"I'm sorry, but I can't risk somebody realizing who we are and attacking."

"You would look less out of place if you would act more like a dad and less like a Grimm."

"Act like a dad?" he hissed quietly. "I'm barely figuring out how to _be_ a dad."

"You're doing fine," she said, stopping when he did to face him. "I mean, you think I know what I'm doing."

"At least you have some experience being a mom," he replied, and then wished he hadn't. He hadn't meant to bring up Diana.

"Yeah, some," she admitted, "but I barely had any time with Diana. She was always taken from me. This is the longest I've ever gotten to spend with my baby," she said quietly. "Never got to take her for stroll mid-town or to the park. We were always on the run for our lives when we were together."

"Adalind…" he started, "I'm sorry."

She nodded and looked down at the ground.

"She's okay," he said, hoping that it was true, and Adalind nodded again.

"So," she said after a moment, "that is why we," she linked arms with Nick again, "are going to enjoy a nice day out together as a family."

%%%%%%%

 _Family._

Yes, he supposed that's what they were now. A mom, a dad, a child. A Hexenbiest, a Grimm, and a concoction of the two that had yet to be revealed. He waited next to the escalators, rocking the stroller back and forth, while Adalind worked at marking the bed linens item off her list and pondered what that could mean.

Neither Nick or Adalind had had much in the way of the nuclear family. It would be nice if they could manage to stay together long enough as parents to not screw up their child. He blew the breath out of his cheeks and smiled at a little girl who crept close to peek at Kelly. He watched her watch him as she peered over the edge to see what was inside the stroller before her mother whisked her back to her side with an apologetic look at Nick.

So far, all appearances seemed to indicate Kelly was a normal baby, no obvious abilities or superpowers, other than to clear a room with a single shriek, and to fill his diaper to maximum capacity whenever Adalind left him alone with Nick.

Today was no exception, either. He smiled wryly at his son, who was given to respond more and more favorably to his parents with expressions of his own, and right now the expression on young Kelly's face was one of contentment, and perhaps even smugness.

"What?" Nick asked. "You think because you're little and cute and look like your mom right now I don't know that you plan this every time?" Kelly looked at his stuffed giraffe hooked to the top of his stroller. Nick smiled again, and looked down at his watch.

"You think he looks like me? I think he looks like you." Nick started at the out of breath voice, and found Adalind descending the escalator. His eyes narrowed on the mountain of bags she was clinging to.

"I thought you were just getting sheets. What's all this?"

"They were having a sale," she replied. She moved kelly's diaper bag aside and stuffed a couple of the smaller bags under the stroller. She managed to maneuver another into the mesh pocket at the back of the stroller. She cast around for a solution for her remaining two oversized bags before raising her eyes to Nick's.

"Oh, no." Nick said, and frowned when her bottom lip extended out slightly. "No. Remember what I said. Only what you can carry. Besides, I thought what we had was fine." Adalind huffed out a sigh.

"Well, I guess, I'll just have to carry them," she replied.

"What's in them."

"I told you. Bed linens."

"All of them?!"

"And maybe a couple of other things," she said, cringing at him.

"Let me guess. You used the credit card I gave you."

"You told me to."

"I hope you got everything on your list, because I'm done shopping."

"Oh, Nick—oof!" she uttered as one of the bags she slung over her shoulder made impact. She looked like a hunchbacked pack mule, and Nick watched her take a few stumbling steps before grabbing the stroller and following.

"I still have a _little_ more to get—"

"How?!" Nick said.

"You know what? I think now would be a good time to grab some lunch."

"Adalind—"

"And we could maybe take a few things to the car?" she smiled hopefully, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Adalind—"

"Just a few more things, I swear." She had the audacity to bat her eyelashes at him. She shook her head abruptly. "Ow, uh, Nick."

Nick sighed. Loudly.

"Um, I've got something in my eyes. Nick. Nick?"

"Give me the bags, Adalind."

She dropped the largest one immediately, and swung the other back around. He hefted them with a grunt, although one was heavier than the other and started walking.

"Wait! Uh, Nick? Where are-"

"I'm taking these to the car."

"So, we'll meet you at the food court?" She called, and he turned and gave her a look of aggravation.

"Okay!" she said. "Food court it is, Kelly."

%%%%%%%%

She sat at a table near the indoor merry go round, Kelly's stroller facing the carousel as it went round and round. She looked around nervously, waiting for Nick.

"I hope your dad didn't decide to just leave us," she said to Kelly, but the lull of the lights and music must have put him to sleep, because he continued to sleep soundly despite the activity around them.

"No, he didn't decide to just leave you." Nick said, placing a fountain drink and a sandwich on the table and took the seat beside her. "Although he thought heavily about it." He took a sip of his drink. "You needed a new comforter? Really?"

"Yes, Nick. I told you. The old one hurts Kelly's eyes." Nick rolled his.

"Just so you know, I am never going shopping with you and Kelly again. I don't care how much you pout or how many sad looks you send my way."

Adalind grinned, and took a bite of her French fry. "It's not all that bad." Nick glared at her.

"I'm actually remembering that time you threw me through a wall with wistfulness."

"Okay, so maybe it is, but the next place will be much easier. I should be able to get everything I need from there."

"How much longer do you think we'll be."

She shrugged. "I don't know, an hour or so, maybe."

"You've got 30 minutes. And remember, it has to fit in the car, and half of it is filled now with a new comforter and the other with Kelly's things, so decide which one you like more." Adalind frowned. "And I'm not carrying anymore things, so…" Nick held up one of her fries and popped it into his mouth for emphasis.

"Ugh. Fine." Adalind conceded.

%%%%%%%%

"We did it!"

Nick dropped the bags he was laden down with in the elevator and stepped off. Adalind tilted her head and frowned, setting Kelly down on a blanket on the floor and marching to the elevator to retrieve her things. Nick retrieved a beer from the fridge, twisted off the cap and threw it in the sink.

"Honestly," Adalind said, watching him take a long pull as she lugged her purchases up to the dining table and set them down with a thud.

"It wasn't as bad as you make it out to be."

Nick gave her a dark look and took another drink, as she went back to gather up the rest.

"And Kelly had a great time, didn't you?" she said in a baby voice, and Kelly, the traitor, smiled. Obviously Nick wasn't the only one prone to her charms. Perhaps it was genetic, he mused. The sucker trait passed down from father to son. Made him wonder what other traits he had passed on.

"We all got to spend some time together, that didn't involve having to evade some attempt on one, or all, of our lives. It was a good day."

"If that's your definition of good," Nick said, finishing his beer. Though, truthfully, he couldn't argue with it.

"Thank you, Nick," Adalind said seriously. Nick waved her gratitude away, and wondered if it was too soon to have another beer.

"Really. Thank you for spending some time with us," and he realized Adalind had moved much closer when he turned back to find her next to him. Before he knew what was happening she bounced up on her toes to place a kiss on his cheek.

"Your welcome," he said after a stunned moment, but she had already moved away before his hands could catch up to hold her. She grabbed some of her bags and dragged them into the bedroom. He decided maybe some distance was a wiser course of action, and instead went to play with his son.

Adalind listened quietly as she remade the bed with her purchases, and Nick ignored whatever it was in his chest that made it ache with emotion.

%%%%%%

AN: I love anytime they get the chance to be domestic. They're so cute together, and they really have a good repartee between them.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: This is why I work so far ahead of posting, because now I'm stuck, and at least I have a week or so to try to work it out before you're caught up with me, posting wise. Here's hoping the muse gets going again.

AN #2: The muse got going again. Way going. Finished this fic and started another fic from Adalind's POV. Don't know why I didn't do that in the first place; she's so much fun to write!

%%%%%%

Great. He had traded one awkwardness with another. Now whenever He and Trubel were alone together there was a strange air between them, as if either didn't know what to say. He supposed, given the results of their last conversation, he could understand the hesitancy, and he further supposed as he was the one who tried to shut it down he was going to have to make the first overture to start it back up again.

As for he and Adalind, the awkwardness that had permeated their lives together initially had now transformed itself into a sort of an anticipatory excitement pushed down from the surface. He _had_ told her that he might kiss her again, and that seemed to remove the last barrier of excuses between them and instead now seemed to be building to something he wasn't sure he had a handle on. But without the insistence on maintaining a "Just roommates" sort of relationship, their relationship seemed to move much easier. They bantered back and forth, bickered on occasion, and in general enjoyed each other's company, but Nick hadn't made any more moves, and other than that brief kiss, neither had Adalind.

Still. it was apparent they were growing more comfortable with one another, as, over the next few weeks, they both found reasons to touch the other. Brushing a hair out of her face, taking his arm when she wanted him to go a certain way, laying her hand on his arm when they talked sometimes; a warm embrace after a particularly hairy case; none of it was rebuffed by the other.

He thought about her often now. Not just her and Kelly, but just her. He knew their dynamic was changing, but he still resisted knowing into what. They fell asleep now sometimes facing each other. Silky blond strands covering her face, eyes opening when Nick brushed them aside to see her better. They had gazed into each other's eyes for a long time, before Adalind shut hers and snuggled deeper into her pillow. He had watched her fall asleep, eventually succumbing himself, once again warring as to whether or not to take that next step with her and what it would be.

He arrived home late one night to find her sitting up in bed, thumbing through a redecorating magazine. He noted a potted plant that hadn't been there this morning and quirked an eyebrow at it, and then her.

"Don't worry," she said, "I got it up here myself, per our agreement."

"Of that I had no doubt."

He unclipped his gun from its holster and laid it on the nightstand and dropped his badge beside it, before dropping unceremoniously himself onto the bed.

"Bad day?" She asked.

He groaned. "You don't want to know."

He looked up at her after a moment and then over to his son's crib. "How long has he been out?"

"Just put him to sleep an hour ago."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll sleep most of the night."

"That's the plan, Stan," she said, returning to her magazine. He nodded and then closed his eyes. They both lay there quietly, the rustle of Adalind's magazine the only noise in the room.

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" She offered.

"No. I'm good. Nothing horrible, just…spent half the day literally running around Portland after a suspect."

"Did you catch him at least?"

"Yeah, finally. Wu made the arrest."

He closed his eyes again and had almost drifted off to sleep when he felt it. Fingers carding through his hair. He opened them and glanced up, and the sensation abruptly stilled, Adalind's hand hovering a few inches from his head where she had pulled it away.

"Sorry," she said. "Thought it might help a little."

"No, it's…okay. Just took me by surprise, is all." He stuck a hand under the pillow, her pillow he realized, and rolled onto his side, and closer to her. "I don't mind," he said, and found himself hoping she would continue. After a moment she did, and he closed his eyes again, relaxing into it. He drifted off into a light doze, and only awoke when he felt her shift against the mattress. The light was out, and he heard her deposit her magazine on the night table beside her before turning back to face him, snuggling under the covers and trying to retake her pillow. He realized he was on her side of the bed, and then wondered when he started thinking of everything in the apartment as his and hers.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized hers were open and staring into his. He said nothing, just moved the hand tucked above him into her hair, and threaded his fingers through it carefully before offering in a husky voice, "I suppose I should give you back your pillow." She said nothing, but when he made to move away from her, he felt her fingers grab his hand and link with his. He stayed his movements and settled back down against the bed, pulling their intertwined hands closer to her chin, where he ran a finger gently across it. He wanted to lean over and kiss her again, but he settled for kissing the fingers wrapped around his, and she closed her eyes and shifted close enough to him that she was snuggled against him, head tucked under his chin. He trailed a hand over her, down her spine giving into the demon that begged for him to touch her, and burrowed his nose into her hair.

"Night, Adalind," he whispered, and her fingers tightened around his.

%%%%%%%

It started like that, and then continued. Not every night, but enough that when he appeared in the bedroom from work and flopped on the bed now, she was already setting aside whatever she was doing to slip her fingers through his hair and talk about their respective day. It was all horribly normal and domestic, and Nick and Adalind tried not to give much thought to that.

It was hard to ignore though, when one day, when he went to leave, he gave Kelly his usual kiss and then turned to drop one on Adalind. He had caught her by surprise and they were both brought up short by his intentions. They both became aware she had a hand fisted in his jacket when she looked at it, and then looked at him with wide eyes. Uncertain what to do, apologize, back away, continue, he decided on the latter and quickly placed a not quite platonic kiss on her forehead and told her he would be home late.

He spent the entire elevator ride down to his car and drive to work kicking himself.

%%%%%%%

She was ready for him the next time, he realized. It was all calculated on her part. He had kissed Kelly goodbye, grabbed his badge and was almost out the door when she had shouted for him to hold on. When he turned back she was _right there_ , adjusting the collar on his shirt before muttering something about a wrinkle. Then, before he knew it, she reached up and pressed her lips firmly against his own and told him she would see him later tonight.

After that, they gave up most of the pretense.

%%%%%%%

He readily kissed her goodbye when he felt like it, and she readily welcomed him home with one.

Tonight was no exception. He stepped into the loft and found Adalind waiting with Kelly in her arms. He greeted both warmly, pressed a kiss against each one, before realizing she was anxious about something.

"What's wrong?"

"Kelly's got a bit of a fever," she said, and he looked at his son in concern. He seemed irritable, and he noticed his cheeks were flushed.

"I'm sure it's just a cold," Nick said, but he knew next to nothing about infants, except what he managed to figure out along the way while raising his, and that didn't amount to much.

"I think we need to take him to see a doctor," Adalind said.

"Did you call Rosalee? Maybe she can suggest something?" Nick said, and ran his hand over the crown of blond baby fine hair on his son's head. Kelly fussed away from him, and Nick swallowed in concern.

"I really think he needs to see a doctor, Nick."

"Okay," he agreed, placating. "Let me just grab my keys again." Adalind nodded in relief and snatched the diaper bag off the counter beside her.

%%%%%%

Two hours later, they were still sitting in the emergency room at St. Joe's waiting for a doctor to see him. Adalind fretted, and Kelly fussed, and Nick watched them both from his seat by the television, elbow up against the seat back next to him, bracing the side of his head, tracking Adalind's tight circles as she paced back and forth in front of them.

"What's taking them so long."

"They had a car accident come through. The nurse said it would just be a few minutes longer."

"That was thirty minutes ago."

He checked his watch. "Thirteen." She gave him an unamused look.

"Adalind, come sit down," he said. She paced around a few more times, before giving up and settling into the seat beside him. Nick unfolded the arm along the seat back and wrapped it around her instead, peering at his son, who definitely looked miserable. He rubbed his hand up and down Adalind's shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "He's going to be just fine," he said reassuringly and Adalind nodded.

His parents were nothing if not survivors. It stood to reason that their son would be too.

"Kelly Schade-Burkhardt? Right this way," Adalind was up and gone, and Nick grabbed their things and followed.

He watched as the doctor examined his son, tensed when Kelly began to cry, and then held Adalind tightly against him as Kelly began to wail in earnest.

"Is he going to be okay?" Nick asked when the doctor gave them the diagnosis.

"He's got a pretty good ear infection, too, but he should be fine in a few days." He scribbled a few things down on a prescription pad and gave it to Nick, along with some instruction to Adalind on keeping Kelly comfortable. She nodded gratefully and scooped their son back into her arms, Kelly was thoroughly put out about his day and tired of being messed with as he fussed even in his mom's hands, which was unusual.

They listened to him wail all the way home, Nick stopping at a 24- hour pharmacy to get his antibiotic prescription filled, and by the time they arrived both parents were as frazzled as their child.

It was a long night, but after administering some of the suggestions the doctor had given them, Kelly finally fell in a fitful sleep, and his parents collapsed on the bed, exhausted.

"What time is it?" he asked, vaguely aware of piles of Adalind's shiny golden hair thrown over one of his arms. The arm that held his watch as a matter of fact.

She twisted her head around to look at the clock beside the bed. "4:53" she said.

"Oh, good. I have an hour to sleep before I have to get up and get ready for work."

Adalind sighed. "I hope he stays down for a little while."

"Seemed like the medicine was starting to work, and the hot compress against his ear helped."

"I suppose," she murmured.

He turned to face her, rolling on his side to watch her fall asleep.

She opened her eyes. "What?"

"You're on my arm," he said, smoothing a wayward hair from her brow.

She glanced at the arm in question, and closed her eyes again.

"Do you really need it?" She asked wearily.

"Yeah, in an hour or so."

"Good. Ask me in an hour."

His arm was already starting to tingle, but he closed his eyes in agreement anyway, and nodded against the bed.

%%%%%%%%

"Nick? Nick!" Nick groaned and moved away from the source of the disturbance. "Wake up! You're late for work."

"What?" he said drowsily, before what was said registered. He opened his eyes and sat up. "What time is it?"

"8:30," Adalind said, hustling around the bed, gathering up baby toys and clothes.

"What!" Nick said, and looked at the alarm clock behind him. 8:34. "Ugh," he groaned and started inching his way off the bed. He made it to the end and then, as he was about to tip forward onto his feet, he tipped back and fell against the bed again.

He watched Adalind hurry about, staring blankly at all the activity, before he caught her arm and pulled her to him.

"Maybe I can call in a sick day," he said.

"No, you can't," she said in hiss, and he furrowed his brow in confusion. He would have thought she would have like for him to do that, instead of leaving her by herself with a sick cranky infant. "Trubel's here. Says she's got something to tell you and Hank. You need to get up."

He released Adalind immediately and sat up again, this time making it to his feet with a groan that made him sound like he was 65, not 35, and stumbled into the loft, where Trubel waited by the door as though she wished to be anywhere but there.

"Hey Nick," she said, and Nick held up his hand. "Ten minutes," he said.

"That's cool. You guys have a late night or something?" he heard her ask Adalind, but her reply was drowned out by bathroom door closing and the shower coming on.

Eight minutes later he was wrapping a towel around himself and holding up his hand again as he brushed by Trubel, who was sharing a coffee with Adalind. "Five more minutes. Just need to get dressed."

Trubel nodded, and Adalind slid off the chair with a look of apology at Trubel and started gathering some of his things, before following him into the bedroom. "Have you seen my shoes," he asked, buttoning up his pants and accepting a shirt from Adalind.

"Right here," she said and dropped them at his feet. He shrugged into the shirt, and snatched his gun off the bed. "Gun," he said, and clipped it to his belt. He sat on the bed and quickly squeezed his feet into his shoes. "Badge," he said, glancing around, before realizing the item was in Adalind's hands. "Keys," he snatched them off the night stand. "Coat," and Adalind handed that to him, too.

"You're a lifesaver," he said, and pressed a firm kiss against her, cupping his hands around her face before releasing her, Adalind uttering a gasp of surprise.

"Coffee," he said, and she called out behind him, "there's a cup on the table." He snatched it up, and took a quick sip, before walking past Trubel, to say goodbye to his son. "How is he?"

"Fever's down. Still fussy. I gave him some more of his medicine." Nick nodded.

"You be good to your mom today, buddy," and then announced "Okay, I'm ready," and both Trubel and Adalind at something over his head.

"What?"

"Hair," they said simultaneously, and he ran his fingers through it hurriedly.

"Better?" he asked. Adalind wrinkled her nose while Trubel said "Close enough."

"I'll see you later tonight," he said. "Call me if you need anything," he got out before the doors swallowed him up.

%%%%%%%%


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Is anybody still reading this, or at this point am I just posting this for myself?

I had a really hard time with this. It got too serious, it was hard to figure out how I wanted to go about it, it was too vague. It just didn't fit, and this wound up being one of those uneven parts of the story that I scrapped initially that I warned you about. It's hard to ignore that Juliette/Eve thing completely, but anyway...I'll let you be the judge if what turned out here works.

I think I also need to add I don't know anything about children, but you've probably figured that out by this point in the story. Go with what ever developmental milestones I fabricated. It's been while since I studied anything about child psychology and development. Just consider Kelly advanced for his age.

%%%%%%

The ride to the station was conducted mostly in the awkward silence that had become the status quo between Nick and Trubel as of late when forced alone together, but Nick was too tired to care or to really notice. It took most of the cup of coffee he had swiped from home to get him functional enough to operate a vehicle, which was why he let Trubel drive. That and he had seriously debated on trying to use the twenty-minute commute to catch some more shuteye.

"Nick, you okay? You look like hell, buddy? What happened?"

He realized with a jolt that he hadn't nearly drank enough caffeine when he found Monroe, Hank and Wu all clustered around his desk. He gave a silent groan and slumped into his chair.

"Sick infant," he said, finishing off the dregs of his coffee. He set it down on his desk in disappointment. "Spent most of the night at the hospital."

"Everything okay?" Hank asked.

"Yeah, just didn't get home and in bed until almost 5. Overslept my alarm." Although now that he mentioned it he didn't recall setting it either.

"You should have just taken a sick day," Monroe said, and Nick rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes.

"Thought about it. What have you got?"

Hank, Monroe, and Wu exchanged glances, and Nick felt his body become more alert. Something was up.

"What?"

It was Trubel who responded. "Meisner wants to speak with you."

%%%%%%%%

 _I really should have taken the sick day_ , he thought. If he had, he could be home taking care of a cranky infant and frazzled young mother rather than preparing to face the woman he once thought he could spend the rest of his life with.

That woman was long gone though.

What was left bore no resemblance to the woman he had loved.

She took a seat across from him and like every time before the sight of her gave him a jolt. It was still so startling to look at her. The platinum wig she wore, the familiar yet foreign eyes. Her entire demeanor had changed.

Meisner took a seat next to her, and Nick didn't miss the way she seemed to turn into him, as though waiting for a command, her awareness of Nick seemingly forgotten.

"You look tired, Nick." Meisner said, and Juliette— _Eve_ —he corrected, looked at him as well.

"Late night," he said instead.

"Right, the baby. How is Adalind?" Meisner asked, and Nick glanced warily at Juliette (she was always going to be Juliette) who stared back without expression. He didn't know if this new version of her remembered anything about their old life together, whether she was aware of the whole situation that had brought his son about and her part in everything that had happened since. Was Adalind and his son still in danger from Juliette? He didn't want to discuss them, the urge to protect them clamping down on any response to Meisner's question. Instead his eyes narrowed at Meisner, recalling that he seemed to be particularly curious whenever Adalind came up in conversation. The whole thing grated on Nick, who didn't miss in the fleeting instances where he had seen Juliette and Meisner together, that she seemed to be particularly in tune to whatever he wanted or needed.

He had been replaced, Nick realized. The five years they had spent together as though they had never even happened.

"Last time I saw her, I have to say I think motherhood agrees with her," Meisner continued.

"You said you had something to tell me," He said coldly, the implication being to lay off the subject of Adalind and his personal life. He noticed Juliette had not stopped staring at him, but he didn't see any signs of recognition or warmth in her face. More like cold detachment, as though she was trying to decide if he was a specimen fit for scientific study.

"Right," Meisner said after moment, glancing at Juliette. "We have a wonderful opportunity to make some headway in the uprising."

"What does Juliette have to do with it?" Nick asked bluntly.

"My name is Eve," she said automatically, and he took a moment to glance at her, but again there was no emotion or inflection in her. Animated, but as lifeless as when he last held her, nearly eight months ago.

"Eve," Meisner said, "is going to help us."

"How is she going to do that?" Nick asked, but he knew something was drastically different about the Juliette as hexenbiest before she died and the one she was now. Deadlier somehow than she had ever been. Perhaps it was the cold precision in which she executed everything, the almost robotic way she moved. So different from the emotional havoc she had been so intent on creating after she paid the price for him getting his Grimm powers back. He couldn't reconcile any of it, the Juliette of then, the Eve of now. But even the vindictive, ruthless Juliette had shown some remorse—some acknowledgment of what she had done. It had been too late; his mother dead and beheaded, and Nick overwhelmed by everything that had been thrown at him, from Juliette's murderous spree, her part in betraying him, the secret organization, to coming to grips that he fathered a child with an enemy now in need of his protection from the woman he had loved for a very long time; going to work for the Royals.

This Juliette, if aware of all that had occurred between them, didn't seem to let it bear much weight one way or the other. Trubel had indicated that this Juliette was carefully created and controlled by Meisner and Nick found he had a hard time trusting him no matter what reassurances Trubel or Adalind gave him.

Meisner allowed himself a brief smile, and then leaned forward. "Let me explain."

He listened as Meisner outlined his plan. He had thought he was going crazy. That first time he had caught a glimpse of Juliette after she had saved him, apparently because Meisner had directed her to, not because she remembered him or had any sort of feelings for him, shocking him so terribly he had thought he was hallucinating. And then over the next few weeks, he would catch glimpses of her in fights against the uprising, so much so that he thought he was losing it.

Meisner spent the next twenty minutes going over everything, and at the end, despite his misgivings about Juliette's involvement and his overall impression of Meisner, he couldn't deny it was the best opportunity they had been given in making some headway against the uprising.

He swallowed painfully as he realized that that was going to mean he would be spending more time in Juliette's presence.

Eve stared back blankly.

%%%%%%

He was still unsettled an hour later, having explained everything to Hank, Wu, Monroe and Trubel. Everyone had looked rather dubious about the whole idea, especially when Nick got to the part where Juliette was involved.

"Nick, I don't like this," Hank said and Monroe nodded emphatically.

Nick rubbed his brow. "Neither do I."

"But you're still going to do it," Monroe said.

"Yeah. I don't think I have much choice."

"I don't know, buddy. I think maybe we should step back a minute and think this through."

Nick shook his head. "Meisner's right. This is our best opportunity to do some serious damage to the Wesen uprising. We can't afford not to take it."

"It's risky, man," Monroe said.

Nick nodded.

"You going to be able to do this? Work with Juliette," Hank said, and Nick shrugged. "I don't know how much I'll actually be working _with_ her, but again I don't have a choice."

"Boy, it sure is nice to have options," Monroe remarked sarcastically and Nick grimaced.

%%%%%%

It was almost lunch when Nick broke away from what he was doing and called to check on Kelly and Adalind.

He jerked the phone away from his ear as soon as she picked up, Kelly's discontented wails breaking the sound barrier. Hank winced on his side of the desk.

"Wow," Nick said, wincing and rubbing his ear. The volume didn't decrease, and Nick realized Adalind was probably holding him in one hand and the phone in the other. "Adalind? Just calling to see how everything's going."

Adalind made a noise in response, one that sounded suspiciously like a muffled sob. He really hoped he wasn't going to have to talk her through some kind of crying spell over the phone. He was feeling spent from his talk with Meisner and Juliette, and didn't think he could offer much in the way of comfort or emotional clarity.

"He won't stop crying," she said desperately.

"Have you tried the warm compress again?"

"Yes."

"Did you give him his medicine?"

"This morning before you left. He was fine all morning."

"Did you do that thing the doctor suggested. That thing he showed us?"

"Yes!"

"How about his pacifier?"

"He just spits it out."

"Have you tried George?" George was what Adalind called Kelly's favorite stuffed animal, a giraffe composed of colors Nick had never seen in actual wildlife, least of all the wildlife in question.

"What about the phone? His favorite song?"

"Nick! Yes! I've tried everything."

"Do you need me to come home?" He ventured, hoping the answer was no. They hadn't exactly fared well the last time Kelly had cried non-stop, and if the phone was no longer working as a deterrent, Nick wasn't sure what else he could bring to the table.

"Have you tried Rosalee?"

"I called and left a message but she hasn't got back to me yet. Shhh…" Adalind tried but Kelly seemed to take it as an insult and only cried louder, if that was possible.

"Maybe it is colic?" Nick suggested.

"I'm taking him back to the doctor," Adalind said.

"You want me to meet you at the hospital?"

"No, I'm taking him to his real doctor, Dr. Pearlman," and Nick frowned as he realized he had no idea who Kelly's doctor was, much less where he was located.

"Give me the address, I can meet you there."

"It's okay, I can manage it…I think," she said the last to herself. "I'll call you if I need you."

"Okay," Nick said doubtfully. "It's not a problem, I can— "

But Adalind had hung up, as Nick could suddenly hear again—or rather he finally was able to register something other than a baby's high pitched screams, namely the ringing in his ears. He rubbed his ear again.

"You all right?" Wu asked.

"Yeah. Fine."

He worked on some of his paperwork backlog, trying to pass the time until Adalind called him again, but after an hour he came to the conclusion that she wasn't going to and that everything must at least be going okay at the doctor.

Having made some headway, he decided to continue with getting caught up, and worked diligently for another hour before looking up when Hank said, "Hey Adalind. Everything okay?"

She carried a mercifully quiet Kelly, mouth currently occupied by a plastic police car, he noted with a raised eyebrow, wondering when he had come into possession of that. He scrutinized his son carefully, noting flushed cheeks, and a slightly irritable expression, but he followed the movements of the police station alertly. He noticeably brightened when he laid eyes on his father and Nick felt something twist in his chest. _I must be doing something right,_ he thought as he reached without conscious thought for his son.

Adalind smiled, "Hank," she nodded. "Just wanted to stop by and show Nick something." Adalind smoothed down Kelly's shirt where it had ridden up above Nick's arm.

Adalind reached for the toy car in his mouth, and Kelly abruptly turned his head away in protest, but Adalind maintained her grip and succeeded in pulling it away.

"This," she announced, "Is the source of all the screaming." She pulled gently at his bottom lip, before Kelly succeeded in moving away from his mother's ministrations. Nick mimicked Adalind's movements and noticed the bottom gum was red and inflamed with a protrusion. Kelly protested and Nick let go, and Adalind handed him back his police car, which Kelly returned to his mouth promptly. Nick raised his eyebrow.

"His first tooth."

"Wow," Nick said, looking back down at his son again, and wondered where the hell all the time had gone. His first tooth? Wasn't he just born a week ago? The passage of time would seem to indicate that he should have a better handle on the parenting thing than he felt he did.

"Nick, is that— "and Nick turned to see Captain Renard approaching, his expression faltering a little when he noticed Adalind standing behind Nick.

"Adalind," he greeted.

"Sean," Adalind returned coolly. She reached for Kelly and with some hesitation Nick handed him back.

"Wow, he's gotten big. Doesn't seem like it's been that long," Renard remarked, as Adalind shuffled through her diaper bag for something. She offered a fake smile at the observation, and a more genuine one when Hank entertained Kelly, Kelly staring in wide-eyed consternation before offering a shy smile of his own when Hank moved the police car against his mouth with _vrrrrooom, vrrooom_ sounds.

"Nice ride. Going to be a great detective like you're Uncle Hank, huh?"

"Hey, Nick, I talked with Bud—and Hey Adalind, is this…this is Kelly?" Monroe said. "Wow, when did he get so big?"

"I know, that's what I just thought," Hank replied.

"Wow, how old is he now?"

"Eight months next Tuesday," Adalind answered.

 _Eight months?_ Nick thought. Where _had_ all the time gone?

"Eight months? Do you mind if I hold him?" Monroe asked, and Adalind glanced at Nick, before saying, "Sure, but we really need to be going here in a few minutes. I just stopped by to see Nick for a moment and show him Kelly's tooth."

"First tooth? Wow. Nick you need to bring him around more often. Next time I see him he'll probably be in kindergarten, man."

"Has he started talking?" Hank asked, and Nick and Adalind shook their heads.

"He babbles a lot though. And he'll mimic you sometimes, if you make a certain sound. He can sit up by himself, too. I think he might be getting ready to start crawling, too." She smiled sweetly at Kelly, who returned it around a mouthful of police cruiser.

"You've seen Bud?" she asked Monroe. "How is he?"

There was a careful exchange of glances that Adalind didn't miss. "Bud's good, he's…good," Monroe managed not quite convincingly.

"What?" She said looking at the four. Nick shook his head. "Bud's fine," he said, and Adalind frowned looking once again at the assembled faces. "What's…going on?"

Nick shook his head again, and Adalind glanced at him, then behind him with a darkened expression before a subtle nod of acquiescence. Nick leaned a hip against his desk, giving him a better view of both Adalind and Renard, who, Nick realized, was watching Nick and Adalind closely. He looked between his detective and his former lover and straightened slightly as though having come to a conclusion, when he met Nick's eyes and excused himself with a mention of some campaign work.

Adalind held out her arms for Kelly and Kelly responded in kind. Nick picked up the diaper bag. "I'll walk you out." He placed a hand on the small of her back to guide her as they started making their way out of the precinct.

"Bye," Hank and Monroe said, and Adalind gave a little wave, and moved Kelly's arm up and down as well.

Out in the hall, Nick pushed the down button on the elevator and waited expectantly as Adalind fussed over Kelly.

"I hope it's okay that I brought him to your work," She said looking over at him.

"It's fine. Glad it wasn't anything serious with Kelly."

The elevator dinged and Nick handed her the bag and waved to his son. "I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Yup. Say bye-bye to Daddy," she told Kelly.

"Bye," and he stood awkwardly as the doors closed, wishing he had kissed her goodbye.

%%%%%%%

"I don't like it, Nick," Adalind said when he had told her a little bit about the plan he and Meisner had devised. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed facing Nick, who was lying on his back, legs dangling over the end of the bed.

"Nobody does," Nick muttered.

"I mean, are you going to be okay?"

"It's not any more dangerous, I suppose, than what I normally have to contend with."

"Not that. Eve-Juliette."

 _Oh._

He had been trying _not_ to think about that. Had almost succeeded in it too, but Adalind had sensed something amiss and put the brakes on the subtle, and perhaps not so subtle attempts at deflection.

"I'm fine," Nick said, and Adalind gave him a look.

"Okay. I'm not fine," Nick said after moment.

"Because you still have feelings for her?"

"No," Nick said after a long moment of serious contemplation. He knew it was over between them and had been for a long time. Too much had happened to ever go back to the way they were, and he didn't see how they could ever move forward in anything but a business relationship with this new person she now was. Eve. _Eve_ didn't care about five years spent with Nick. They were meaningless. Nick was nothing to her, just a memory of somebody else's life. And maybe that's what burned the most. That five years could be erased so easily as though flipping a switch.

"Nick," she said after a long pause. "It's okay. You don't owe me anything," and Nick looked at her again.

She was picking at a piece of lint on her pants, and he ran his hand along her face. She looked at him guardedly.

"You're right. I don't." Adalind nodded, looking down at her lap.

"But, I don't have feelings for her anymore. Juliette died 8 months ago now there's just some automaton inhabiting her body. It's been over between us for a long time, maybe even before that," he said, looking away from Adalind's eyes, and carding his fingers through her hair. She had been wearing it straight the last few months, and he tugged on the ends until it slipped through his fingers before dropping his hand to his side.

"Although, I'm pretty sure you did tell me I owed it to you to take better care of myself? You were quite adamant that you had the right."

She looked up with a wan smile.

"I promise I'll be okay."

"Not sure you can promise something like that," she said. Nick nodded reluctantly. She was right. He didn't know what the future held with Hadrian Way and the uprising.

"Maybe not, but don't doubt for a second that I'm not serious about trying."

Adalind looked up from her lap and met his eyes.

"I just want you to make it back in once piece. For Kelly," she added, and Nick nodded agreeably.

"For Kelly."

And then he leaned up and cupped both sides of her face and kissed her thoroughly.

%%%%%%%

AN: *It's daaaa-uhn*. This story done. Finito. All complete. I may or may not hold the remaining chapters hostage in exchange for feedback.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Welp, here we are chapter seven. Still a couple more to go. Dry your eyes.

%%%%%%

"I need a favor," Nick began.

"Name it, Nick."

"I need you and Rosalee to keep an eye on Adalind and Kelly while Meisner and I are doing this."

"Sure, Nick," Monroe agreed.

"And I need you to not let her know you're keeping an eye on her."

"Oh. Oh-kay. Monroe said, looking confused. "And why are we keeping that from her?"

"I just don't want her to be worried that something might happen. She's been really worried and I'm regretting telling her about it. She doesn't know when it's supposed to happen and I'd like to just be in and out with it before she even realizes."

"Are you worried something might happen to them?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I would just feel better if she and the baby weren't alone."

"Okay. Yeah, okay, I mean Rosalee can invite her to dinner or something," and Nick nodded. He turned to look back down at the schematics covering the workbench in the basement of Rosalee's spice shop. He heard Monroe shuffle restlessly beside him, but he focused on going over the plan one more time.

"Say, uh, Nick. Speaking of that-You mind if I ask you something about Adalind?"

"Hmm? What?" Nick replied, distracted.

"Is there…uh, is there something going on between you two?"

Nick looked up. "Why would you ask that?"

"Uh, no reason, it's just…at the police station, there definitely was a _vibe_ between you two."

Nick felt a pit in his stomach. Perhaps that's what had had Renard so curious about them, too. Was it that obvious? Not that he was trying to hide his…relationship…with Adalind, it's just…he wasn't broadcasting it. He was still unsure how to define his relationship anymore with Adalind. Baby-mama? Girlfriend? Lover? Friends with some fringe benefits? Hexenbiest that had tried to kill him and all his friends repeatedly over the years before she tricked him into having sex with her to strip him of his Grimm powers and became pregnant with his child as a result? He didn't want to answer any questions about it until he knew for sure where he stood, and right now he stood at a precipice.

"I mean, I'm sure I'm totally reading this wrong, it's just the other day seeing you two together, and then I remembered something Trubel had said…"

"What did Trubel say?"

"Nothing, really," Monroe hastened to explain when he saw the dark look on Nick's face. "It was just the way she said it. That you guys might be involved in some way."

Nick looked down at the blueprints, unseeing.

"If I'm way out of line, just tell me," Monroe said.

 _You're way out of line._ It was on the tip of his tongue to do just that, but he was he really going to continue lying to friends? To himself?

"It's complicated," Nick breathed, and Monroe ducked forward closer to him in shock.

"Wow. Wow. It's—it's true? Wow. Oh-kay, then."

Nick looked heavenward with his eyes.

"I mean that's good, buddy. You're moving on from Juliette…with…Adalind." Monroe choked out before adding, "I mean, that's good. Good. Good, good, good."

"Will you stop saying that?"

"Sorry. Sorry. I just…wha-how? How did that even happen?" Monroe got out and held his hands over his mouth like he hadn't meant to say that.

"I don't know," Nick admitted. "Living together, the baby...It just…did," he finished lamely, unsure how to put words to it either.

"Well, that's…great!" Monroe said, trying his best to play the supportive friend. "I mean…it it…is it serious? Are you in love with her?"

"More serious than having a kid and trying to raise it together? I don't know," Nick murmured. "We're still trying to figure things out. It's complicated," he said again. "It's not like we're a couple in the usual sense."

"She did try to kill you," Monroe nodded in agreement. "And Juliette. And Hank, Rosalee, me a couple of times," he added.

"Yes," Nick agreed tersely.

"And she was pretty much responsible for the _entire—"_

 _"_ Monroe! Believe me I'm aware."

"Right. Sorry buddy."

"Besides, she's…she's a lot different now."

"Right, I mean she's no longer a Hexenbiest, really," Monroe said, watching Nick closely. "Well, I mean, that's good. If you're happy, I'm happy."

Nick gave him a look. "No, you're not, but it's fine. I'm not even sure if I am happy, but surprisingly, I'm not miserable. There might be some happiness here and there."

"What? I'm not unhappy. It's not like I want you to be miserable. You've been running on auto-pilot since the whole thing blew up with Juliette. It's understandable if you're a little confused about things. Like you say, tight quarters and all."

"But see, I'm not sure I am confused," Nick said heatedly.

"Whoa, okay. Okay."

"Sorry, it's just I'm so sick of hearing it. Believe me, I've been over it a million times myself. Close quarters, sentimental because she's the mother of my child, losing Juliette, loneliness. It's not any of those, or it's all of those, I don't know."

It was quiet, the sound of Rosalee above them taking care of customers the only noise for a long moment.

"She's not as bad as everyone thinks she is. Or at least she's not like that anymore. She's a good mom. She's kind of funny, and warm-hearted. I think she really wants to try and be different from how she was before she lost her powers. We're both really trying."

"She's serious about keeping them lost, too."

"What do you mean?"

"She told Rosalee she doesn't want to be a hexenbiest again. In fact, she and Rosalee have been researching ways to keep her from ever regaining her powers permanently."

"What?"

"Yeah, so…yeah…I think you may be right, about her trying."

Nick mulled the information over.

"Look, if anyone deserves to some happiness in this last year, it's you Nick. And if she makes you happy…even a little bit…I can find a way to deal with it."

Nick nodded.

"Thanks."

"No problem, man."

Nick gestured to the plans. "Can we get back down to business now?"

"Absolutely."

%%%%%%%

For once he arrived home early, and was rewarded for the effort with an empty loft. He dropped his badge and keys on the counter and sifted through the mail before tossing it back down on the counter again. The single bed that Trubel had stayed in was made up, and Nick realized it had been weeks since she'd been in the loft. He noted with a dry snort that the utilitarian bedding had been replaced with something that no doubt fell under the "non-ugly" category. He looked across the loft and registered a few other changes he hadn't paid attention to. Wall art dotted the cinderblock walls, breaking up the cold sterile room. A couple of lamps now lit the space, providing softer light than the harsh fluorescent. He noted one sat on a small end table next to the contemporary chair and ottoman she had somehow managed to fit into the car _and_ get up into the loft herself.

He had broken down and had helped her haul a glider rocker into the bedroom so they could rock Kelly to sleep.

There was a sense of warmth and hominess despite the space, and he almost felt bad for not letting her have more leeway with converting it into something livable instead of strictly functional.

It was only supposed to be temporary, he thought. Just someplace safe and away from the threats while he tried to figure their situation out. That had been eight months ago.

Slowly, so carefully he almost hadn't noticed, she had tried her best and made a home here for them. Kelly would probably take his first steps here, say his first words somewhere in this room. And looking around him he was dismayed to think his son might grow up in this stark, barren place. There wasn't even a room for Kelly. He had always just envisioned Kelly staying with his mom for whatever unspecified, but what he had assumed to be short—shorter than eight months—amount of time he thought that they would all be living together. Now he realized that sooner rather than later he would need a designated space for him.

The elevator clanged and he pulled his thoughts away from the loft, waiting for the lift to rise. He was greeted by the sight of Adalind, grinning widely in surprise to see him.

"Hey. You're home early," she said, popping up to kiss him. He reached for her as she pulled back and within seconds it had gone from fairly chaste to deep and passionate.

"Whoa," Adalind breaking away for a moment. "Are you okay, Nick?"

"Fine," he said, trying to resume where they had left off, but she pressed a hand against him and managed to stay just out of reach. "Easy tiger. Baby in the room," she said, relaxing her arm when Nick backed off a little and looked at his son, curious eyes locked on his parents.

"Right," he said, and Adalind nodded and patted him on the chest.

"Seriously, everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." She nodded again, and picked up Kelly from his stroller and set him on the floor with a couple of toys, and moved to the kitchen, gathering ingredients for dinner, and he leaned on the other side of the counter alternating watching her and keeping an eye on Kelly. "So what have you guys been up to?"

"Park," Adalind said. "The one over on Lincoln and Wilfordshire. He likes the swings, and I like the gardens. And it's just down the street from my favorite coffee shop."

"Ah," Nick said.

"What about you? How was your day?"

"Spent most of it with Monroe, going over some things in our investigation," Nick said.

"Right," Adalind replied, frowning. "The investigation. How's that going?"

"Good."

He watched her in silence for a moment, listening to Kelly bang a toy against the floor.

"I told Monroe about us."

"You told Monroe what?" She said.

"About us. I told Monroe about us."

"Us?"

"Yeah, _us_."

"Oh."

"Are we an…us?" she asked, and Nick would have been annoyed by the question had there not been the hopeful lilt at the end of it.

"I think so."

She nodded, arranging her ingredients for dinner, but she had already arranged them once, and Nick spied a pleased smile playing on her lips.

"How did he take it?"

"He was…surprised," Nick said carefully, and the smile dimmed. "But supportive," and she met his eyes.

"Really?" she said, skeptical.

"Really," he confirmed. "I mean, I don't think he's going to go out and buy us monogrammed towels or anything, but I think he might be more receptive to the idea than either of us might have thought."

"Wow."

"So…is that the reason you're so glad to see me, tonight? I mean, not that I'm complaining."

"I can't just miss you?" he asked.

"You can miss me," she said with a kiss of apology and busied herself with dinner. Nick grabbed a beer out of the fridge and watched his son play for a while.

"He's so close to crawling," Adalind remarked. "We're going to have to baby-proof everything in the apartment."

He took a swig of his beer and nodded, glancing up at the place again.

"I was just thinking about this place before you came in."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Not sure that I ever thought we would be here this long."

"You mean, together, here with me," she quipped.

"Yeah," he admitted. "This was just to hold us until I could figure something out for you guys."

She nodded in understanding.

"We may need to look at something else. More child friendly."

Adalind looked up in surprise. "You mean, move?"

"Yeah," he said, not understanding the undertone he detected there.

"Why?"

"Why?" he asked again.

"It's fine."

"Are we talking about the same place? The _dungeon-y_ place," he reminded her.

"It needs some sprucing up," she said. "if _somebody_ would just let me redecorate…"

"There's not even a room for Kelly. I mean, we can't all share the same room forever can we?"

Because at one point he'd like to have sex again now that it was on the table.

"What about upstairs?

"Upstairs?

"Yeah," She pointed to the metal stairs that led up to the roof.

"That goes up to the roof," he said. Adalind rolled her eyes.

"No, it goes up to an anteroom that has another door that leads to the roof. That space would be perfect for us." _Us._ It was a jolt to it hear it said back to him.

He grimaced. "Are we talking the same space?"

"Yes. You just don't see the potential here, Nick," she said, clearly warming to the topic. "Some paint, some decent furniture, some décor. This could actually be a really nice place."

"You're serious?"

"Yes."

She had obviously given it some thought, and then he remembered all those decorating and home improvement magazines she had been reading.

"I am _NOT_ going shopping with you for _any_ of it," he said flatly, and Adalind faintly thrummed with excitement.

"I wouldn't want you to."

Nick snorted.

"Honestly," She continued, "After the last time, I mean you complained the whole time. Besides, Rosalee is a much better shopping companion."

"Right," he said, wondering if Rosalee had any idea what she was in for.

"Does that mean I can get a sofa, and we can bring some of real furniture in here?"

He nudged George over to Kelly, who ignored him in favor of his plastic police car. It apparently made the siren sound, too, but sometime over the last week Kelly had broken that part of it.

"We'll sell most of what I've got in storage. You can use that as your budget for the loft."

"Nick!"

Nick shook his head. "I don't want most of it. We'll get new," and Adalind agreed hesitantly, but Nick was positive it was the right decision to make. The things that he and Juliette had picked out when they had a life together had no business here. "You'll have to be careful. Order it and have it sent to Rosalee's shop, and then I'll rent a truck and we'll move it ourselves. I still don't want to risk too many people knowing about this place."

"So that's a yes."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Yes," he said with a great sigh. Adalind shrieked, catching Kelly's attention and flew around the counter to hug Nick excitedly. She looped her arms over his head and around his neck and kissed him deeply, and they spent several long moments enjoying and exploring the sensation.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," he murmured with another light kiss on the corner of her mouth. She clapped her hands excitedly and went back to dinner.

"You won't regret it!"

"I already do," he replied.

%%%%%%%%%


	8. Chapter 8

"Nick? Nick!"

"Hmm?" he managed, burrowing deeper into his pillow.

"Nick! Wake up," Adalind hissed, and he frowned without opening his eyes.

She shook his shoulder. "Nick. You won't believe it. Guess what time it is?"

He knew it was damn early, without even looking. He opened his eyes and groaned. "Adalind," he all but whined. One of the few nights where he actually was able to get a decent night's sleep. He drifted.

"Nick. It's 5:30."

"So?" he muttered. _Definitely_ too early. He could sleep for another hour if he wanted.

"Kelly slept through the night!" she whispered excitedly. Nick opened his eyes and lifted his head to peer at his son's crib. Squinting he caught sight of the slow rise and fall of his son's tummy as he breathed deep in sleep.

"A whole six and half hours!" Nick closed his eyes again, and reached out blindly, finally making contact with a part of Adalind he could grab onto, and tugged hard. She flopped back down on the bed, and Nick shifted towards her, slipping an arm over stomach and burying his nose in the crook of her neck.

"That's wonderful," he breathed. "Now go back to sleep."

"Right. Sorry. I know." She turned her head to him. "A whole, full night's sleep. I almost don't know what to do with myself, I feel so rested."

Nick tightened his grip on her. "I might have a few suggestions," he said.

"I'm sure," she replied.

"You might even like some of them," he offered, a drowsy smile playing at his lips. He slipped his hand under her pajama top, or rather, his shirt, testing the waters.

"Nick," she murmured. "He might wake up soon."

"He might not," he replied, nuzzling against her neck, before drifting a light train of kisses along her collarbone. He felt her press involuntarily against him.

She turned and he shifted, gathering her closer, moving over her, both hands now exploring. She fisted a hand in his shirt and he slipped his hands lower with a groan. They continued to explore, Adalind uttering a contented sigh that went straight south in his body. They froze as they heard a rustle over near the baby.

"We'll have to be quiet," she reminded him, when it stopped.

"I can be quiet," he said feverishly, before Kelly started to fret again. Adalind broke off and twisted to look at him, and Nick flopped back down on his side of the bed with a loud, disappointed sigh.

"Naturally," Nick muttered, and Adalind flashed him an apologetic look, as it became apparent that Kelly was indeed going to wake up.

"Guess I'll take a shower," Nick said. "Now that I'm up."

%%%%%%

"You ready?"

Nick finished checking the crossbow, and hooked another gun to his belt at the small of his back.

"Locked and loaded," he said, and Hank nodded.

"Remember, we're only going to get one shot at this," Renard said, and Nick nodded.

"Meisner and Trubel are supposed to drive back the first wave, and that should get me inside the enemy lines. After that I'm on my own until the Rendezvous with Ju-Eve," Nick replied.

Renard nodded. "Hank and Wu will take point at the south metro station."

"Got it."

"This has the potential to get really ugly. We don't know how much of their intel they've been able to decipher. Be careful, Nick." Nick nodded. "You got somebody with Adalind and your son?"

Nick nodded. "Monroe and Rosalee are over keeping watch, under the guise of developing their redecorating strategy. I showed Adalind an escape route a long time ago if the loft is breached. There's cameras and sensors all over the place."

Renard nodded, brow furrowing. "Redecorating?"

"Yeah, Adalind would rather redo the loft than move."

Renard absorbed this while watching Nick closely as he strapped a few more weapons to his person. "You've been living in the same place together a long time," he remarked.

"Trying to do what's best for our son," Nick replied.

"Surprised it's lasted this long," Renard added. "I figured you would have killed each other months ago."

"Adalind's changed a lot. She's not like when you and I first knew her. Losing her powers, Diana, the baby…she's…she's…likeable," Nick finished. Renard raised an eyebrow. "And you like her now?"

Nick shrugged, focusing on sighting his crossbow. "We get along." He hoped Renard would drop it, but he felt his penetrating stare as he fiddled with the weapon.

"She's in love with you, you know," Renard said, and Nick nearly dropped the weapon. "I could see it when she stopped by the station a few weeks ago."

"How do you mean?" Nick asked, then wondered if he was better off trying to deny it.

"The way she behaved around you. In all the years I've known her, I've never known her to defer to anyone else's judgment or wishes other than her own. She wants to make you happy, and she wants you to be happy with her."

"It's a small loft that's even smaller if we're miserable with each other. Not to mention the effect on Kelly if we're hating each other," Nick said dismissively, acutely uncomfortable with the topic of conversation and moderator.

"That may be true, but that's not the only factor. On either side," Renard said pointedly and then turned to accept a message from a patrolman.

"We're a go, Captain," and he nodded. He looked at Nick who nodded an affirmative.

"I hope you know what you're getting into."

Nick didn't know if he meant the op, or his relationship with Adalind.

%%%%%%%%%

She was waiting up for him by the time he got home. It was well after three in the morning when he slid the gate up to find her sitting in one of the dining chairs, expression unreadable, yet charged, reminding him vaguely of her glory days as a hexenbiest and that immediately put Nick on his guard.

"You're still up," he said, and dropped his keys, badge, gun and wallet on the counter, turning to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge and to avoid her eyes.

"I was waiting for you," she said.

"You didn't need to do that," he said, taking a long drink.

"I wanted to see if you would tell me to my face what was going on." He pulled the bottle away.

"Adalind—"

"Since I had to find out from Monroe and Rosalee what you were really doing."

"Adalind, I didn't want you to worry."

"News flash, Nick. I worry! You're a Grimm. And a police officer. And the father of my baby. I care about what happens to you. Lying to me isn't going to change that."

"I didn't lie to you," Nick said. Technically.

"Well, keeping the truth from me isn't any better."

"I'm sorry."

"Is that why you devised this whole elaborate redecorate the apartment scheme? To keep me busy?"

"No, I had told Monroe to have you and Rosalee invite you to dinner. When you had mentioned wanting to stay here if we fixed up the apartment, I told him that it would be a great excuse to keep you occupied."

"Right, of course," she agreed. He picked at the label.

"How much did they tell you?"

"All of it! Nick!" Adalind cried, and then looked away and bit her lip. Nick set the drink down and walked over to her. She saw him approach and turned away from him.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "But it was necessary to protect you."

"What did it protect me from? I didn't know what was going on Nick, how was that protecting us if something happened?"

"Monroe and Rosalee knew what to do if anything happened to me."

"Yes, but Nick, I wouldn't." She looked away when a tear fell, and sniffled loudly, schooling her features and getting herself back under control. "I mean I know I act like I have it so together, but nothing's really changed from when we first started this whole crazy idea of raising a child together. I don't want to do it alone. I _can't_ do it alone. I need you with me, Nick," she whispered looking at him, and Nick gathered her up in his arms. She resisted at first, but after a moment she wrapped her arms tightly around him and sniffled again.

"Damn you," she muttered, and Nick tightened his grip around her.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "It was necessary. Telling you ahead of time about all of it wouldn't have changed anything, it would have only weighed on you the whole time, and I didn't want you to have to take that on."

"She was there?"

"Who?"

"Eve," Adalind said, sitting back. "Juliette." Nick watched her, nodding slowly. "She infiltrated from the east, met up with me at the Rendezvous point."

From there they had worked in tandem to reach the metro point south. If Eve had been any less precise a Wesen fighting killing machine, it might have all almost blown apart. A part of Nick's focus was still on her, and whatever this training or brainwashing of Meisner's had created with her. He had taken two shots to the ribs, and an arrow in his leg before he had pulled his attention away from her and solely on surviving this skirmish to fight the next one.

He had never ever imagined Juliette in this capacity. Everything he saw, was as horrifying to witness as it was amazing and repulsive. He could hardly comprehend some of it. The thought the she was manufactured by some secret government organization for this purpose was mind-boggling. It was nothing like working with Trubel, the camaraderie mixed with adrenaline. The knowledge that you had a shared purpose in the fight. Nick and Eve might be fighting for the same cause right now, but her abilities left no doubt to their superhuman origin and it was clear that the moment Meisner decided he didn't agree with the cause, Nick would have a lot more to worry about than the uprising. Nick was left wondering how long and what would happen if and when Meisner's reformatting ran out. She had been deadly and dangerous before, but with all the training and conditioning she would be almost unstoppable if she ever broke out from government control. He could not help but wonder if that happened would she try to kill him again. Kill Adalind or the baby. Or if she had finally moved on from her vengeance quest, if it had truly been all erased.

"So everything went according to plan?"

Not exactly. Nick had definitely not planned to be shot in the leg with an arrow and to have two broken ribs. Fortunately, with his Grimm healing the wound in his leg had sealed up already and his ribs were merely tender. He thought he kept the small grimace as he moved around and held her well-hidden. Another few hours he should be okay.

"For the most part," he said, not wanting to lie to her. She moved her head back to meet his eyes. "There were a few surprises, but nothing we couldn't handle."

"And you're okay?" She insisted.

"A few bumps and bruises, but I'm okay," he promised her.

"Good." Then she smacked him on the arm. Hard. Even without the strength of her hexenbiest powers it still surprisingly hurt from someone who barely came up to his shoulder without heels.

"Ow!"

She smacked him again, harder.

"Adalind!"

He grabbed her arm when she tried for a third time and she collapsed against him, the fight going out of her.

"Don't ever do that again. I want to know what's going on, I don't care how much you think it might worry me."

Nick sighed.

"Promise me."

"Adalind—"

"Promise me," she insisted, pulling back from him.

"I promise. I'll try to tell you as much as I can," he offered.

"No. All of it. I want to know all of it."

He sighed heavily. "It's still my job to protect you and Kelly."

"You're doing your job if you let me know what's going on."

Nick sighed again and looked away. It was instinct now, to want to shield her from anything scary or painful. To guard his family carefully.

"Nick."

"Okay, I promise," he said. "To tell you everything, even if it's against my better judgment."

" _Especially_ when it's against your better judgment."

"Okay. I promise," he said again, and Adalind acquiesced. He pulled her close again and breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of her shampoo and body wash, and Kelly's baby powder. They just held each other for a few minutes, taking in the quiet surroundings before Nick opened his eyes and looked around. A corkboard and a bunch of magazines were lying about, pictures and notes pinned to the corkboard.

"Did you have a good time tonight?" he asked.

"You mean, before I found out you had decided to undertake a dangerous op without telling me about it?"

And Nick rolled his eyes. "Yes," he said, waving his hand at the detritus in the loft.

"Yes, I think Rosalee and I really started to make some headway. She's coming over next week with some samples and we're going to see if we can get the paint scheme figured out. We decided to refinish the floors too," and Nick looked down at them. "Rosalee volunteered Monroe to help…and I volunteered you, too."

"Oh no. This is strictly all you."

"Nick," she pouted. "I need your help."

"No, no, no," he said.

"You're good with a hammer and saw, right? You got that whole, do-it-yourself vibe about you. I mean, you did do all this—" she indicated the loft presently.

"This—" he indicated the loft and the redecorating magazines and corkboard with a wave of his hand, "—is all you. You and Rosalee. Not me."

"You could volunteer your help to make it up to me."

"I already did make it up to you. I apologized, and promised not to do it again, remember?"

"Nick!"

"Nope."

"I could make it worth your while," she said with a seductive smile, and Nick looked up at her from under furrowed brows.

"Oh, really?" he said, unimpressed, trying to control his heart from beating too fast.

"Yes."

"I don't know. My service fees are really high," he replied, watching her.

She curled a lip, and reached out to grab the collar of his shirt to pull him closer, before smoothing her hands down the front of his chest. His sore ribs twinged but he kept his gaze locked on Adalind.

"I'm sure we could work something out," she breathed, running her hands up and down his chest before pulling him by the waist of his pants closer. She kissed him, lightly at first and then more deeply. He vaguely remembered that this was her default M.O. To trade or barter sex for something she wanted. He pulled back.

"How do I know you're not just using me to get what you want?"

She smiled with so much affection he felt his stomach somersault. _She's in love with you, you know._ The words popped into his head.

"Of course I'm using you," she replied. "But I promise you, you won't regret it."

AN: Hit the comment button and let me know what you think.


	9. Chapter 9

"Adalind. How are you? Is everything okay?"

"Hey, Hank," Adalind said, bouncing Kelly on her hip. "Everything's fine." Hank noticed Kelly and leaned over the desk. "Hey buddy, you remember your Uncle Hank?" He grinned when Kelly obliged him with a smile of his own. "Of course you do."

"Adalind? What are you doing here?" Sean asked as he walked through the department with Nick. "Everything okay?"

"She's having lunch with me," Nick said, coming up beside him. "Let me grab my jacket," he said to Adalind and she nodded.

"Sean," she greeted politely.

Nick registered a glance from both the captain and Hank and Wu, but ignored it.

"Ready?" he asked and Adalind smiled and preceded him.

He stopped short when he registered Meisner, and more importantly, Eve enter the precinct. Adalind, too, seemed shocked.

"Adalind," Meisner said in surprise.

"Meisner," she managed, eyes locked on Juliette.

He felt a deep pit settle when he realized Eve had noticed Adalind and the baby and was looking back at them, the same look she always gave to her surroundings and anyone other than Meisner. He walked around Adalind and the baby, stood between them and Meisner and Juliette, registering that Hank and Renard had also moved forward to flank them. Eve transferred her gaze from Adalind to Nick.

"Nick," she greeted, and then stared back at Adalind. "Adalind," she said and there was no inflection, but it was clear she knew who she was; remembered her. Adalind held Kelly tighter to her and Nick instinctively drifted closer. Eve transferred her gaze to his son and Nick felt her heart go in his mouth. He tensed, ready for the fight as she stared for a long moment at Kelly.

"And this is your son," she stated, and Meisner looked at Eve and then Nick and his family.

"You lost your powers," Eve continued to Adalind and Nick instinctively took another step closer to Adalind. Was right in front of her now and could feel one of Kelly's legs pushing against his back. Hank, Renard, and now Wu joined the standoff.

"You suppressed them to try to help me," she continued as though reciting lines from a history book. Adalind furrowed her brows in controlled panic, trying to understand what Eve/Juliette was getting at. Nick was understandably confused too, but he didn't let it keep him from sliding a hand down by his holster. Meisner continued to watch the scene unfold carefully. "But you've done something else now. They're gone," She added. "I don't sense anything within you anymore," and Nick risked a glance at Adalind, who continued to stare at Juliette in dumbfounded shock. She tightened her grip on his son when Juliette transferred her gaze to him again.

She continued her study, cocking her head, and Nick stepped forward.

"You need to go," Nick said dangerously. Meisner shook his head slightly, indicating they should wait a moment. She studied Kelly for a few seconds longer and then looked at Nick.

"He's like you," she said, and Meisner nodded in satisfaction, making some sort of gesture that had Eve retreating back beside him, as though she had passed some test of his. She stared back at the assembled group as Nick and Adalind glanced at each other and then at their son.

 _He's like you._ What did that mean? He looked like him? Adalind swore he did, but Nick always saw more of his mother than himself in his son. Did she mean a Grimm? _He's like you._ Adalind met his eyes again and he looked at her closely. _You've done something else now. They're gone._ Adalind looked away as though she could read his thoughts.

"We just stopped by to give you this, Captain." He handed a document to Renard. "We must be going. Thank you, Captain," Meisner said and he and Eve turned to leave.

"Meisner," Nick said in a low voice, stepping away from Adalind. He noticed Eve moved a few steps ahead to allow them some privacy, but she turned in their direction.

"Don't ever bring her near my family again," he continued in the same low voice.

"Sorry," Meisner said, "I had no idea they would be here. They're under no threat of harm from Eve," Meisner continued, glancing at Adalind.

"I don't care. Keep her away from them. From now on the station's off limits and I better never hear from Adalind or anyone else about her being within 500 feet of her or my son."

Meisner looked at Nick closely for a long moment. "You won't."

He glanced at Adalind again, and nodded at the room and he and Eve continued out the hall and out of the building.

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Wow," Wu said, breaking the tension.

"Let's go," Nick said when Adalind had collected herself.

"You all right," Sean asked her, and she smiled reassuringly at the group that had formed a tight, protective circle around her.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She looked at Nick. "I'm okay," she repeated and he acknowledged her with a nod. "We'll be back in an hour," he told Hank

%%%%%%%

"You sure you're okay," Nick asked for the tenth time.

"Fine, Nick," Adalind said, taking a sip of her water. "It just…she scared the hell out of me," Adalind said.

"I know."

"She's just so…so…"

"Different?" Nick offered.

She looked up from where she was trying to keep Kelly from flinging his food off the high chair.

"Yeah. I mean, I honestly don't know which is more frightening. The Juliette before, or the Eve of now."

Nick nodded. "I think Eve. I don't know what Meisner did but I'm not sure that I want to bet my life on it lasting. Or your lives," he said looking up at her.

Adalind shivered. "She's just so…freaky. And between us, we know freaky."

Nick chewed for a bit.

"Speaking of Wesen," he said slowly, "What do you think she meant when she said _they're gone?_ She looked at you and said she didn't sense the hexenbiest in you anymore."

"Who knows. I mean, I'm not able to woge or use my powers, so the potion must still be working."

"She said you'd done something different. Have you done something?"

Adalind looked up at Nick. "What do you mean?"

"I know about you and Rosalee trying to find a way to keep your powers suppressed."

"What? From who?"

"Monroe. Did you find it?"

"Monroe? Wow, they really are married," she muttered. Adalind chewed on her salad thoughtfully. "I don't think so," she said. "I don't know. We've tried a bunch of things. Nothing has seemed like it's doing anything different, or the same. And without really powers to test them against, I have to assume the potion hasn't worn off yet."

"It's been almost a year," Nick said. "You think it would last that long?"

"No," she admitted, "But what's the alternative? Thinking it did work, and then finding out one day it didn't?" She ate another bite. "Who knows, maybe sleeping with you again is what finally did it, and not anything else that Rosalee and I have tried to do. I mean it worked before, right?"

Nick nearly choked on his food. Adalind smiled devilishly.

"It's okay. Now you owe me twice."

"Excuse me?" He lowered his voice and whispered.

"When you misled me about the op with Eve?" she reminded him.

"I atoned for that the other night," he whispered, cheeks warming a bit.

"Oh, Nick, you haven't even begun to atone," she said, smiling evilly. Nick glanced around at the other patrons, shifting uncomfortably.

"Watch yourself," he warned. "And as far as I'm concerned we're even."

"Well, we can discuss that at another time," she said instead, grinning. Nick sat back with a look and resumed eating.

"What did you think she meant about Kelly?" She ventured a moment of silence. " _H_ _e's like you._ Didn't seem like she was trying to say he has your eyes," Adalind remarked.

"I don't know," Nick said glancing at his son worriedly. "I mean can she tell this early that he's a Grimm? Can anyone tell? I mean, wouldn't Rosalee or Monroe or Renard have said something if they detected anything?"

"I don't know," Adalind murmured. "He seems like a normal baby. I don't know what she meant. I told you, she's…freaky. The whole thing's freaky. I don't want her anywhere near our son."

"Agreed. I told Meisner I better never see Eve at the station or within 500 feet of you and the baby. I don't think he'll ignore the request."

She flashed a smile gratefully.

"I'll be okay, I think."

"I'm not taking any chances."

%%%%%%%

"What the... Hell…is this?" Nick said when he stepped into the loft and found bedlam. Adalind and Rosalee looked up from their seats on the floor and smiled in greeting.

"Hey Nick," Adalind said before turning back to what she was doing.

"Swatches," Rosalee replied before turning her attention back to Adalind.

He unclipped his gun and badge and placed them both on the counter. "Are we reupholstering the whole loft?" he asked incredulously noticing sample ring upon sample ring strewn all over.

"It's important to pick not only the right color, but the right fabric," Adalind told him.

"You mean, a washable, durable one that will survive a small child?"

Rosalee frowned, looking at the sample Adalind was now holding out to Nick. "What do you think of this?"

"So probably not silk," Rosalee said slowly.

"No, not silk," Nick said, barely glancing at it. Both she and Adalind slumped disappointedly.

"I loved this one," Adalind said sadly.

"I know," Rosalee agreed, "The paint, the accent—" she held up another swatch. "It all went together perfectly!"

Nick watched as they stared at the swatches in consternation. "Well, I'm sure you'll figure something else out. Remember, washable and durable."

Adalind frowned and Rosalee glanced at her comfortingly.

"Maybe we should give it up for the night," Rosalee suggested and Adalind buried her face in her hands.

"We just spent five hours on this!" she moaned. Rosalee patted her shoulder and stood. "We'll look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow."

She smiled at Nick and grabbed her things. She gave him a hug in passing and told both of them goodbye.

"Bye peanut," she whispered, but Kelly snoozed on.

"Later, Rosalee" Nick said leaning against the counter and crossing his ankles together. He watched Adalind stare blankly at the progress she had made before she gave a large groan and flopped back.

"Unbelievable," Adalind muttered. "All that work…" She threw an arm over her eyes and sighed.

"Come on," Nick said, standing up and kneeling down next to her. He smiled at her beautiful face scrunched up in frustration. He tugged lightly on the arm that covered half her face, but she refused to budge, so he tickled her side instead and managed to receive a swat and a dirty look for his efforts.

Nick grinned. "Come on. I'll take you to dinner."

%%%%%%%

"He's into everything now," Adalind told him. As if to make her case, Kelly was tearing into one of the boxes Adalind had brought home from an excursion to a home improvement store, pulling out item her purchases and dropping, or in some cases, flinging them on the floor. "Oh! Don't let him have that, Nick!"

Nick bent down, and took the offending object away. A silver candle stick, and you would have thought Nick had ripped George's long giraffe neck from his body from the cry of protest and frustration he emitted.

"He's been like this all day."

"He's crawling pretty good now," Nick said watching him wail loudly. "Come on buddy, you know you can't have that stuff." He bent down to pick up his son, holding him up against his shoulder and patting his back. "Sounds like someone needs a nap."

"Yeah, two someone's. I haven't gotten a thing done today," Adalind said rubbing her forehead. "Maybe you can take him tomorrow for a little while? Please?"

Nick patted the back of his still crying son, although he was calming down some, though not enough for Nick to risk placing him in his crib and have him stay that way.

"I can see if I can come home a few hours early, I guess. Maybe sometime after lunch?"

"That would be perfect. Thank you," she said gratefully, stepping over the box and items Kelly had strewn all over and placing a kiss on Nick's cheek. "I'm going to go lie down for a while," she continued, walking past them and heading to their bedroom. Nick watched her go and then turned back to Kelly, who had quieted down.

"Are you giving your mom a hard time," he asked Kelly, looking around at what used to be a fairly organized and neat apartment. Now it was like Adalind and Kelly had fought a battle for dominance, toys, samples, baby gear, magazines, and remodel notes littering the battlefield. From where Nick stood, it appeared to be a draw.

"I don't know about you buddy, but I almost can't wait until this whole remodel is through. I should have given your mom a deadline. She does pretty good under pressure."

"What do you think about staying here a little longer, huh?" Nick looked around again at the space. "It's not what I ever imagined for you, not that I ever imagined…any…of this, exactly. You, your mom and I living on the fringe of society," Nick rambled. "Last time I imagined having kids…I didn't even know there were things like Grimms and Wesens among us."

Nick drifted around the room, still holding his son close. "And then your Aunt Marie dropped a bomb on me and I hadn't given kids a serious thought since unless there was one involved in a case. I mean when you think about fatherhood and becoming a father and all that, you think it will be after you've married the woman you loved for ages or something, not that you had a freakishly hot sex with a Hexenbiest that you thought looked like your girlfriend at the time," Nick murmured quietly. "So, yeah, I probably could have taken the news better if the circumstances had been different, but as it was I was just trying to process the fact that said girlfriend was now a hexenbiest herself and a pretty vengeful one at that, when your mom decided to drop the bomb on me that she was expecting you. Wasn't very happy at all in fact. Kind of called your mom a liar and said some other things I'm not overly proud of, but then you were kicking, and your mom forced my hand against her stomach and it was like…you were real. Real real. Like, really mine. And then there just wasn't enough time to do all the things I had thought about. I just had to react. And almost a year later…here we are all…still." Nick paused. "I guess we're doing okay. I mean, it's all gone a whole hell of lot better than I ever thought it would. I mean, your mom and I haven't killed each other yet. We used to hate each other you know, before you were born. A lot of things had happened between us before you even got here, but we managed to put it aside to raise you. You seem like you're doing okay, despite having us as parents. And your mom…your mom _is_ pretty cool. Don't tell her I said so, but she's beautiful, and smart, and sweet…I mean, you like her, too, right?"

He pulled his son slightly away from him and smiled wryly. "Good talk," Nick said when he saw Kelly had fallen asleep. He moved quietly to the bedroom and laid his son carefully in his crib beside the bed. He looked at Adalind, curled up facing the crib, like she used to when she and Nick first started sharing the bed, back when she was frightened what might happen to her as a young mother. He laid a throw blanket gently over her and tiptoed out.

"You think I'm beautiful," Adalind murmured, and Nick stopped and turned.

"I knew you weren't asleep," Nick said, more to himself.

"And smart," she added, rolling to face him. "And sweet…"

"I also think you're a pain in the ass," Nick returned.

"You think I'm sweet," she said again, and Nick rolled his eyes. "You're a pain in the ass," he replied.

"Yes, but you like me."

"I like Kelly."

"You like me."

"What are we, in third grade?"

Adalind sat up and grinned. "You like me and you think I'm beautiful."

"I've always thought you were beautiful. It doesn't change the fact that you're a pain in the ass. And you know what, you think I'm _Grimsome_ ," he said, remembering.

"Yes, but I didn't always think you were _Grimsome._ "

Nick touched his hand to his heart. "Really? If you stabbed me would it be less painful?"

"I don't know we could find out."

"Ah, the good ole days," Nick said. "I was just telling Kelly about them.

"I know, I heard. Smart, beautiful, sweet, remember?"

Nick look up for a moment, as if thinking about it. "No."

"Ha. You can't admit it."

"I can't admit it? Who can't admit she thought I was _Grimsome_ when she first met me?"

"I never thought—"

"—Liar," Nick interjected, taking a seat on the bed next to her.

"-I never thought you were _Grimsome_ —God, why did I ever say that word," Adalind muttered. "I knew you were a Grimm and I just automatically feared and therefore hated you. Plus, I was trying to kill you…and your Aunt Marie. Thinking about you as attractive in anyway really kind of gets in the way of that process," she said quietly.

Nick was silent for a moment, watching her play her fingers against his shirt buttons.

"I was pretty awful back then," she admitted.

"Yeah, you were."

"Oh my god, how are we ever going to explain any of this to him?"

"That was a long time ago. A lot has happened since then. And probably less is more in that regard."

She nodded, trying to muster a smile. "But you think I'm sweet now?"

"Sometimes. That's because you've brainwashed me, though."

"Nick," she shoved against his shoulder.

Nick turned serious, "I think you're…smart, and beautiful, and sweet, and a good mother to our son, and I'm very grateful that things have turned out as well between us as they have."

"You like me," she whispered hesitantly.

He leaned forward and kissed her gently, slipping a hand to cup her head against his mouth. Adalind responded in kind, both hands cupping his head and holding him tightly to her, passion igniting between them. He broke it off before it could get too out of hand and pulled back breathless. Adalind smiled.

"You like me," she said again, more confidently.

"Maybe a little."

%%%%%%%%


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Last one.

%%%%%%%

"Close your eyes."

"You know, I helped build half of it," Nick pointed out.

"Nick!"

"Nick, close your eyes," Rosalee commanded, and Nick, because it was Rosalee and not Adalind with her pouty, kissable mouth, complied.

"Fine. My eyes are closed."

"Cover them with your hands," Adalind added and Nick heaved a big sigh and dutifully put his hands over his eyes.

"Mama," he heard Kelly say.

"Just a few more moments, Kell-bell, and then we're going to show Daddy the big reveal."

His son had said his first word a few weeks ago. Nick had argued it was George, Adalind had sworn it was juice and both had felt the disappointment of not being at the top of Kelly's list to articulate. He had started adding more to his vocabulary slowly, but in the last couple of weeks he had amassed about five words, among them "mama" with fair regularity and "dada" every once in a while as he became more comfortable with it. He would celebrate his first birthday in three weeks, a milestone Adalind and Rosalee were intensely planning and one that Nick was trying to remain unsentimental about. It was hard though. He was a father to a one-year-old boy, a future Grimm if Eve's strange pronunciation at the station all those weeks ago was to be believed. He had survived a lot, already, in his short life, and Nick was hard-pressed not to remember his mother's words to him. _Don't do what I did. Don't leave the people you love._ He had done his best to stick to them.

Now he was about to set foot in the remodeled loft, the place where probably in another few weeks Kelly would take his first steps. It would do for another few years, if they made it that long, Nick thought, but he didn't tell Adalind that he had no intention of raising Kelly here with her indefinitely. They would get a house one day. A yard, in a neighborhood with other children. Hopefully one day Monroe and Rosalee's children. He allowed himself that hope that they would still be together to raise their son, but he didn't dare make any grand overtures. Things were still complicated between them—She was going back to work in a few weeks, and Nick wasn't sure how the change would affect them, and this…this right here felt like a big enough overture anyway.

Instead, he stepped carefully out of the elevator, guided by Adalind, Monroe and Rosalee hovering close with Kelly, and kept his eyes covered until she told him to open them.

He did and gawked at what laid before him. He turned, taking it all in, mouth still slightly open registering the changes big and small in the loft, and Adalind's hopeful face.

"What do you think?" she said, bouncing lightly on her toes.

"Wow," Nick breathed, and Rosalee and Adalind erupted into smiles.

"You guys did…all of this?"

"No, I helped too," Monroe groused. "After you put up the walls and stripped the floors, guess who got stuck with the rest of it?"

"You like it?" Rosalee asked, and Nick surveyed the room again. It was beautiful. It looked like something that belonged in one of Adalind's better homes and garden type magazines rather than the loft in an abandoned paint factory that housed a Grimm, a suppressed Hexenbiest and their lovechild. And despite the picture-ready touches, it was warm and inviting. The trim above them had been painted, the sterile kitchen counter replaced with beautiful warm cabinetry and countertop. There were barstools now along one side, updated kitchen appliances, and a designated dining space with a new table and chairs in wood finish that matched the cabinets, and area rug that featured colors sampled in the paint on the walls and the finishing touches. There was a living space now, with a sofa, a loveseat, tables, chair and built-ins filled with books Adalind had collected. There was another throw rug, rather shaggy and soft and he could already imagine his sons squeals of pleasure when he ran his chubby fingers through it. The single bed Nick had first stayed in was gone, and a beautiful hall bureau stood in its place with a lamp and ceramic bowl. Not much had changed with the bathroom so Nick didn't bother to look there. Instead he moved forward into the space taking in the warmth of the place, and allowed Adalind to loop her arm through his and point out certain things in the loft. The ceramic bowl on the bureau was for his keys, wallet, and badge—a place to drop them off first thing, and pick them up last on his way out the door, she told him.

There were pictures of his mom, he saw, on one of the shelves and for a moment he was too overwhelmed to speak, listening as Adalind also pointed out pictures of Monroe and Rosalee, Hank, and several of their son, but, _not_ , he noted, any of her. There was room for some of Nick's books, if he had any he wanted to add, and he nodded. She glanced back at Rosalee and continued, and Nick found at some point in the tour he had linked his fingers through hers and was holding her hand tightly. They stopped at the newly created room for Kelly, an actual squared-off, walled-off, space with not only four walls, but a small closet and even a door separating him from his parent's room. Nick had done his best to create a separate room for Kelly, one that allowed his parents some privacy for themselves, but he had not seen any of what Adalind and Rosalee had planned to do with it once he had finished until now. They had painted the giant metal shutters of the window overhead a soft baby blue, and had done his room up in a police/law enforcement theme. His room was carpeted wall to wall, and held his crib, a dresser, a changing table and the glider-rocker Nick had helped Adalind bring up here.

"It looks great," he said, noting a police-themed mobile above the crib and a light on the dresser that looked like a police berry. "It's really great," he said again, and Adalind gripped his hand tighter in excitement.

"And now, last but not least, the master bedroom."

And now, there actually was one in the loft. There was still the room up the stairs, the anteroom, that he had convinced Adalind to make into a guest room or study instead of their room. He had been worried about being so far from his son. Instead, he had created his son's bedroom, and packed a little soundproofing where he could in the shared wall.

They turned to their left and Nick stopped short, once again taken by surprise by what he spied in front of them. A new bed, bedside tables, bureau and mirror, a chair in a corner, a bench at the end of the bed, and the metal shutters on the remaining two windows on this side of the loft painted in a sante fe red shade, accentuating the soft bed linens. Artwork dotted the walls here as well; they dotted most of the loft, Nick realized.

"What do you think?" Adalind asked again, and Nick turned to her and realized that at some point in the tour Monroe and Rosalee had dropped off. He heard them in the kitchen, and he took a minute to enjoy a private moment between them.

"It's…amazing," he said, pulling her to him. "It feels like a home now. You did a great job." She thrummed with contented excitement and they both surveyed the room. "How much did all this cost, again?"

"Ugh, you don't want to know."

He suspected she was right. She had been given a substantial signing bonus as an incentive to come back to her firm, and he suspected he was witnessing where most of it had gone.

"Besides, everything should be paid off in a couple of weeks. I've already got my first six cases lined up, and Berman came through with a big, fat, raise as promised. So we'll be okay," she assured. _We_. He remembered now long ago thinking when everything had become his and hers. Now it was ours and theirs. _We_. _Us._

He rested his chin on the top of her head and sighed.

"Oh my god, what did he say, I can't stand it any longer!" A voice called up to them and Adalind choked back a laugh.

"You think it's good?" Adalind asked in a lowered voice and Nick nodded emphatically.

"He says it's good!" Adalind hollered back.

"Good, does that mean we can eat now?" Monroe called. "I'm starving."

"Yes, let's go eat," Nick agreed.

%%%%%%%

"Someone's feeling pretty proud of herself." Nick remarked after seeing Adalind strut past him with a smug smile on her face.

"Yes she is," Adalind said, getting into bed beside him. "I knew you would see that I was right. This placed just needed a little brightening up."

"This was a major overhaul," Nick retorted.

"Well, considering what I had to work with, I think it came off quite well?"

"You're just fishing for compliments," he replied. She flashed him a cheeky grin.

"What, no "amazing" or "incredible" or "obscenely talented" to go with smart, beautiful, and sweet?"

"Conceited?" Nick suggested, but he pulled her in for a kiss as he said it, then settled back against his pillow with a groan as it got a bit out of hand.

"How long has Kelly been down?" Adalind asked breaking away.

"A couple of hours."

"Good, we've got some time, then," she said, and slipped her fingers around the hem of her shirt (still his shirt) and pulled it over her head. Nick allowed his hands to trace and pleasure, taking the time to enjoy to enjoy her every breathy moan and sigh and not about every other time where they wound up like this, and he would inevitably think of the first time they did this, when it had been her, disguised as Juliette, and then the second time, when it had been Juliette as her. Both of those times had been incredible, but he could remember thinking how it exciting it had been that first time. He didn't know if it was because he had been surprised at how forward and aggressive he thought Juliette was being, or because he had like the forwardness and aggression. She was still forward and aggressive, and their romps together were generally quite athletic and satisfying. He felt desire lurch south when she arched her back and things quickly intensified from there.

They both lay spent in the dark, breathing heavily to catch their breaths, sheets a tangled, sweaty mess around them.

"You were quiet when I showed you what we did with the bookshelves. I hope I didn't upset you with that pic of your mom," she said lying on her side listening to him breathe.

Nick shook his head. "It's good. Really. It just hit me for a moment, but I'm okay. It's fine," he assured, and she nodded, running her finger up and down his arm. "Although," he said, rolling on his side to face her. "There were no pictures of you on there."

Adalind shrugged. "Didn't have any. I mean, what would I do, have Rosalee take one of me. That would seem too staged or forward."

"Forward?" Adalind shrugged again.

"There should at least be one of you and Kelly," Nick said.

"There should be one of all us," Adalind countered, "but I felt nervous enough putting those out there what with everything that could happen."

Nick nodded in understanding. There was still a risk. He was still a Grimm after all, and she and his son were still someone important to him. Not having any personal identifying effects in the loft were better, but he realized he had missed them.

"We'll take one the next time we go to the park," he said and Adalind smiled. The watched each other silently.

"I've been thinking about us," Adalind began, and Nick straightened. "We don't need—we're not—we're not one of those couples who need to make some big statement about our intentions or anything. I mean, this is enough right? I mean, we know what we mean, don't we?"

Nick shifted his head on the pillow, and reached for a strand of golden hair. That she had basically had the same thought as he had was no longer surprising. They actually had quite similar thought processes at times, same humor, and quick, biting wit.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Nick said, and Adalind sighed in relief. _She's in love with you, you know._ He felt like he might be in love with her too, but he let go of the hair and folded his arms under his chest.

"You like me," Nick teased with a half-smile, and Adalind rolled her eyes in response. Nick felt the other side of his lip curl and stared back. He raised an eyebrow, daring her.

She sighed theatrically.

"Maybe a little," she said mischievously.

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AN:

Thank you to everybody who commented and favorited. Really enjoyed sharing it with you. If you like this one I am working on the next saga in the Schade-Burkhardt household. About 3/4 of the way finished, and need to think of a title, but it might serve as something to get us through the winter hiatus (side note: why are they prolonging our suffering by pushing the spring return back a week. Jan 29th? grrrr). If you're interested in reading more let me know.

THE END!


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